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| Jeff Wilke, CEO, Amazon Worldwide Consumer |
“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone,” said Jeff Wilke CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer. “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 percent 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.”
Amazon also announced that after a period of adjustment, Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods’ customer rewards program and available through such platforms as Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now. Whole Foods’ private brands also will be available through each of the platforms.
“It’s been our mission for 39 years at Whole Foods Market to bring the highest quality food to our customers,” said John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. “By working together with Amazon and integrating in several key areas, we can lower prices and double down on that mission and reach more people with Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food. As part of our commitment to quality, we’ll continue to expand our efforts to support and promote local products and suppliers. We can’t wait to start showing customers what’s possible when Whole Foods Market and Amazon innovate together.”
A new addition to Whole Foods stores will be Amazon lockers. Customers may have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local Whole Foods for pickup, or consumers may send returns back to Amazon via the lockers.
