Gobbling up discounts
Whole Foods slashing prices for Amazon Prime members beginning this week
On the heels of its $13.7 billion acquisition by Amazon, Whole Foods Market is giving us a glimpse at the price breaks it will be extending to members of Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime soon will become the shopping rewards program for Austin-based Whole Foods. In advance of that, Whole Foods is offering discounts on a variety of items — and even deeper discounts for Amazon Prime members. An Amazon Prime membership costs $99 a year.
“These are the latest new lower prices in our ongoing integration and innovation with Amazon, and we’re just getting started,” John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, says in a release.
Whole Foods operates six stores in the Austin area — five traditional stores and one reduced-price 360 store.
Seattle-based Amazon, the No. 1 online retailer, wrapped up its purchase of Whole Foods in August. The same day that the deal closed, Whole Foods and Amazon promised to cut prices immediately on an array of Whole Foods items.
As part of the newly announced discounts, Whole Foods just slashed the price of organic turkeys to $3.49 a pound and antibiotic-free turkeys to $2.49 a pound. For Amazon Prime members, organic turkeys will sell for $2.99 a pound and antibiotic-free turkeys for $1.99 a pound.
Other newly discounted products include chicken breasts, peeled shrimp, canned pumpkin, broccoli, salad mixes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
Whole Foods says it’s also cutting prices on items like Lundberg Family Farms rice; Eden Foods beans; Pacific Foods broths; Organic Valley eggs and milk; Vital Farms eggs; Tom’s of Maine toothpaste; and Chobani, Fage, and Siggi’s yogurts.
Amazon says it’s trying to make Whole Foods “affordable for everyone,” helping the grocer shed its “Whole Paycheck” reputation.
