Amazon announced today that their acquisition of Whole Foods will be completed on Monday, and a number of changes will immediately take place.
Amazon plans to lower Whole Food prices, starting immediately on Monday August 28, 2017.
To get started, we’re going to lower prices beginning Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples, including Whole Trade organic bananas, responsibly-farmed salmon, organic large brown eggs, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, and more. And this is just the beginning – we will make Amazon Prime the customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market and continuously lower prices as we invent together. There is significant work and opportunity ahead, and we’re thrilled to get started.
They also announced that special Prime discounts are coming at the Whole Foods checkout:
Amazon and Whole Foods Market technology teams will begin to integrate Amazon Prime into the Whole Foods Market point-of-sale system, and when this work is complete, Prime members will receive special savings and in-store benefits. The two companies will invent in additional areas over time, including in merchandising and logistics, to enable lower prices for Whole Foods Market customers.
Key changes coming, including some specifics:
- Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices on a selection of best-selling staples across its stores, with much more to come. Customers will enjoy lower prices on products like Whole Trade bananas, organic avocados, organic large brown eggs, organic responsibly-farmed salmon and tilapia, organic baby kale and baby lettuce, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, creamy and crunchy almond butter, organic Gala and Fuji apples, organic rotisserie chicken, 365 Everyday Value organic butter, and much more.
- In the future, after certain technical integration work is complete, Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods Market’s customer rewards program, providing Prime members with special savings and other in-store benefits.
- Whole Foods Market’s healthy and high-quality private label products—including 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch—will be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now.
- Amazon Lockers will be available in select Whole Foods Market stores. Customers can have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local Whole Foods Market store for pick up or send returns back to Amazon during a trip to the store.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see the grocery store competition play out with Walmart already trying to get ahead of things, and other major grocery chains no doubt close on their heels.
I don’t quite understand what this whole hoopla is really about… This is a niche market and it won’t have any impact on the rest of the grocery stores. It’s not like Johnnie Six Pack will go to WF to get cheaper organic baby kale for his soiree.
I would’ve gone to WF more often had it been on my way home, but it isn’t, and I don’t particularly miss it. In fact, as much as I hate Amazon, I’d love to be able to boycott Amazon entirely.
Not all stores are in wealthy areas. We have one in central town, in a middle- to lower-middle class area.
Whole Food are usually close to rich areas. I don’t think the rich care about lower prices. If they are trying to make things more affordable for everyone, then they need to open more stores in the middle class areas.
I enjoyed the Hyatt Whole Foods bonus earlier this week. Even with some outrageous prices it is fun to shop in there occasionally. Nowhere else in my area sells mochi. Bring it on!
Asian grocery store?
That press release made me want to vomit reading it. So much marketing drivel with organic this and animal-welfare-rated that. Definitely not interested in shopping at that kind of store.
That is probably why you are vomiting so much.
I personally compared gorcey price between Whole Foods, Sprouts and Vons. I have to say even Wole Foods lower its price for 20% on average, it’s may still higher than its competitors.
they should pay the $400m breakup fee and buy Kroger
Way too late to walk away from the merger now lol.
Though could be an interesting step ladder if they used the WFM buyout to cheapen the price they’d have to pay for Kroger (or another competitor) later.. alas that’s more offtopic than what you wrote, haha
this is HUGE news. shits gonna get real with omnichannel.
A new way for Amazon to get your money out of your pocket. lol
and I couldn’t be more happy lol
I’ve seen some speculate that Whole Foods could potentially earn 5% on the Amazon Prime Visa in the future. That’s a good return on groceries if it happens.
Meh. BCP gives more cashback and is cheaper than Prime.
BCP=4.2% off after Annual Fee
Chase Amazon is 3% without Prime. It’s only 5% when you pay the ~$99 annual fee.
Yeah, although a lot of people are paying that regardless of it earning 5x instead of 3x, that isn’t the case with the BCP
BCP is capped, Can only be redeemed at $25 increments (you always loose some money), has an annual fee with no benefits (comparing it to prime).
Well I haven’t found much benefit in subscribing to Prime either. I don’t care about faster delivery, and one can usually get all the same stuff cheaper elsewhere.
The $25 increment is a red herring. It takes only $416.67 spending to get there.
that’s -145% cashback considered WholePayCheck Foods is 3x more expensive than anything at any other groceries store.
Did you read the post or just blurt out the same BS about Whole Foods everyone always does?
They can lower the prices 2x, and WFM will still be too expensive.
1. There are no cheap grocery stores in the US. Food here is insanely expensive. Go to Sainsbury’s (or even the cheaper ones) in the UK and you’ll see how much you’re getting ripped off. Similarly for mainland Europe.
2. I actually find grocery stores like Shaw’s or Stop & Shop to be way more of a ripoff than WF. There are a ton of terrible products there for way more expensive than they ought to be.
3. If you want a specific premium brand like Ben and Jerry’s (who doesn’t love Ben and Jerry’s) it is likely to be cheaper at WF than Shaw’s or S&S. WF also has occasional sales on premium brands while I don’t think other stores do.
4. I regularly find that produce is cheaper at WF than Shaw’s or S&S. Trader Joes can be competitive but they are also completely dishonest by not having scales in stores making it hard to compare prices. When you quote prices per item rather than per pound you can make it seem you’re giving them a deal. I actually find it really obnoxious that they don’t have scales so you can’t even compare the individual price to their bagged price, where they claim it’s 2 lbs for instance (and often it’s less).
5. Yes there are a lot of ridiculous items at WF. Maybe some fancy kombucha guru health drink which tastes awful or some milk with fancy packaging which is identical to their basic milk. Maybe some things more extreme like asparagus water. Just avoid those. Happy?
Aldi?
I find Market Basket, Hannaford, Walmart supercenter, and sometimes Target to have better prices than the places you mention. Wegmans can be added to your list. Foodmaster had low prices; but too bad they had to close stores in Nov 2012.
If you check out the Organic/Natural aisles at Wegmans you’ll find them about the same or just barely slightly better than WF on pricing. Same thing with your other chain stores that actually have organic sections (my local Giant has 2 aisles). Meat as well. Organic, grass-fed beef at WF is about the same price as elsewhere.
The difference with WF is that they don’t have a lot of cheaper options, the whole store is of the organic/healthy variety.
Aldi and Kroger and other local stores offer almost literally 3 times lower prices.
Certainly location dependent.
Aldi FTW
Amazon sells WF gift cards. You can buy a $50-200 WF gift card on Amazon and get 5% back with the Prime card plus 3x Jet Blue points.
+1
or buy amazon card with ink and then buy wf gift card with it
Now we just need WF to allow you to use the WF eGiftCards on Amazon to buy an Amazon GC in store and we have a JetBlue perpetual point earning machine like we were able to do at Joann Fabrics for a few weeks!
This makes me really sad that Amex killed VGC sales at Whole Foods now.
Not all Whole Foods locations …
Yeah was the last grocery store around me that allowed vgc with cc. I went in the other day and they only had $100 🙁