Amazon announced today that its acquisition of Whole Foods will close on August 28, and consumers will be see immediate benefits. Starting Monday, Whole Foods will begin offering lower prices on staples through its stores, including meats, produce, dairy, and fish, just to start. It was announced back in June that the online retailer was planning to shell out nearly $14 billion dollars to buy out the high-end grocery chain.
In addition to discounts across the board, Whole Foods will also eventually roll out extra incentives such as special savings and other in-store benefits for Amazon Prime members, which will become the chain’s de facto customer rewards program. The plan also involves installing Amazon Lockers in select Whole Foods Market stores for customer pick ups and returns.
Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, said in a press release:
We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality – we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards. 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.
The acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon is going to be a total game changer, from revolutionizing the grocery delivery industry, to putting an emphasis on local, seasonal produce, and hopefully putting an end to food deserts. The future of affordably priced, healthy food for everyone seems to be here.
