Ever since it bought out Whole Foods last year, Amazon has made it clear Prime members were going to be able to save more on their grocery bills. What hasn’t been clear is what form it’ll take. Starting tomorrow, though, Amazon is offering some steep, steep cuts on prices across the board.
In their press release, the company reveals that a Prime membership is essentially a 50% off discount on a handful of products:
- Baby back pork ribs, cruelty and antibiotic free, are $4.99 a pound, a $5 a pound savings.
- Wild-caugh sockeye salmon is $13.99 a pound, down from $19.99.
- Organic red cherries are $3.99/lb and organic yellow peaches are $1.99/lb., $2 per pound off each.
- Mochi ice cream is five for $5.
- All bulk items, including favorites like nuts and dried fruit, are 25% off.
- Organic Honest Lemonade is two for $3
- And sale items are 10% off.
While the discounts themselves are relatively narrow, at least for now, they’re still likely going to put jitters through the grocery industry. As we’ve noted before, the grocery game has tiny margins, and Amazon is a behemoth of a company that can absorb huge losses in order to take on customers. It can afford to sell produce at a loss; most other grocery chains can’t, and Amazon has plenty of room to turn up the pressure. Amazon is also expanding the Whole Foods 365 concept, too — a smaller store with the essentials on the shelves, better designed for tightly packed urban environments — which probably won’t help those jitters from competitors. This is yet another sign how we eat is changing, and that those selling us food will need to adapt.
(via Amazon)
