Amazon announced on Thursday that it will begin delivering groceries from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now in four US cities today. Amazon Prime subscribers living in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach are the first customers who will be able to shop for natural and organic products from the popular grocery chain.
In a press release, Amazon says that the rollout will begin in these four cities, but that it plans to expand across the US later in 2018. Thousands of items will be available through the service, including fresh produce, high quality meat and seafood, everyday staples and other locally sourced items from Whole Foods.
On orders of $35 or more, two-hour delivery will be free, while one-hour delivery will cost an additional $7.99. Delivery from Whole Foods will be available on Prime Now from 8 AM to 10 PM local time every day of the week.
“We’re happy to bring our customers the convenience of free two-hour delivery through Prime Now and access to thousands of natural and organic groceries and locally sourced favorites,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO in a statement. “Together, we have already lowered prices on many items, and this offering makes Prime customers’ lives even easier.”
Ever since Amazon acquired Whole Foods last August for $13.7 billion, it has been exploring ways to integrate itself within the grocery chain. The first steps that Amazon took were to lower the prices at the notoriously pricey chain and begin displaying and selling its own Echo smart speaker devices in-store. Now it has added Whole Foods to its list of Prime Now stores, which you can check out at PrimeNow.com or with the Prime Now app.
