Amazon Cuts Whole Foods’ Prices for Prime Members
Starting today, Amazon.com and Whole Foods are making changes to its Prime loyalty program. The much-anticipated changes offer special discounts to Amazon Prime customers, including 10 percent off hundreds of sale items and rotating weekly specials. A report from Reuters states the new strategy will further expand on Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods by offering exclusive discounts and deals for Amazon's most valuable customers — i.e., Prime members. These new Prime perks are available now in Florida and will roll out to all other Whole Foods stores starting this summer.
Total Retail’s Take: Whole Foods is taking steps to shed its reputation of a high-end grocer that priced itself out of most consumers’ grocery budgets. In fact, the grocery chain was jokingly referred to as “Whole Paycheck” by many shoppers. According to Morgan Stanley analysts, the new pricing for Prime members could make Whole Foods cheaper than conventional grocers for about 8 million of its customers who already subscribe to Amazon Prime. I’m curious to see not only how this move will affect Whole Foods’ sales, but also the growth of Amazon Prime members. Recently, Amazon announced that it had over 100 million Prime members.
