Ever since Amazon bought out Whole Foods last year for $12 billion, the megacorp has moved aggressively, cutting prices, adding Whole Foods products to its Prime Now delivery service, and piloting a delivery service that’s free for Prime members. Now they’re upping the ante even more, by offering cash back if you buy from Whole Foods with your Amazon credit card.
It’s fairly straightforward, as Ars Technica reports. Use your Amazon Rewards Visa card, and if you’re a Prime member, you get 5% back on your purchase. If you’re not a Prime member, you get 3% cash back. Considering what you get with Prime, and Whole Foods’ prices, that’s a fairly sweet deal. For the record, at 5% back, Prime, which works out to about $8 a month, pays for itself if you buy $160 worth of groceries in a month. For a lot of Americans, that’s roughly what they spend in a week.
Needless to say, this is yet another reason for grocery stores to start sweating. Amazon can easily afford to eat the 5% losses on Whole Foods purchases if it pulls business away from their competitors. And, of course, the delivery aspect also bumps up the game, even as it raises a host of separate questions about labor, the accessibility of food, and food deserts.
There’s plenty of room for Amazon to keep enticing customers. This may be the most overt move yet, but there are likely more on the way.
(via Ars Technica)
