Amazon Prime at Whole Foods: What’s the Impact?

When Amazon acquired Whole Foods a year or so ago, many industry pundits speculated that Amazon would extend its Prime loyalty program to the brick-and-mortar grocer. While it took some time to accomplish the necessary systems integrations, Amazon did just that: It rolled the program out in the past couple of months, providing special discounts and savings to Prime members shopping at Whole Foods.

And integrated it is. As a Whole Foods shopper, I was struck by the good job Amazon has done executing the integration of Prime across the store. From signage at the entrance and other points around the store touting the benefits of being a Prime member, to signage on sale products announcing savings for Prime members, to the training of staff and cashiers, the execution in the store we shop at was well done. Downloading the Whole Foods app, I signed in using my Amazon credentials; a QR code was created that is scanned at checkout, identifying me as a Prime customer and triggering the special prices and deals.

As WGB recently reported, Prime is being well-received by Whole Foods shoppers. “Prime members have adopted this [Whole Foods] benefit; it's one of the fastest rates we've ever seen for a Prime benefit,” Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said in a conference call reviewing Amazon’s second-quarter financial results. “They've already saved millions of dollars on everything from seasonal favorites to … popular daily sales.”

Related:Amazon Touts Roaring Start for Prime at Whole Foods

Beyond the obvious impact of Prime helping drive Whole Foods sales, what else is happening? What are other implications of Whole Foods being so tightly integrated with Prime?

The first, and perhaps most important, implication is data. Amazon, through the Prime integration, is now able to link purchases made at Whole Foods with that same shopper on Amazon’s broader platform. To a company like Amazon, data is everything; it is the fuel that powers the Amazon engine. Amazon will gain powerful insights by understanding shopper purchasing behavior across the brick-and-mortar store and online. And there are other implications in today’s omnichannel world of retail. Amazon, the digital deity, is a master of digital engagement, providing a seamless experience across all touch points. Is that prowess transferring to the Whole Foods experience?

CART is releasing an exclusive report powered by Sense360 exposing powerful insights on the impact of Prime at Whole Foods, including:

Join the CART team on Thursday, Aug. 9, at 2:00 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST, for a webinar that will release and share detailed insights and analytics coming out of unique research measuring and quantifying the impact of Prime at Whole Foods: Realtime Insights about Amazon Prime at Whole Foods.

Register for the webinar by clicking here. 

Gary Hawkins is the founder and CEO of the Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART). Reach him at [email protected]