Whole Foods Offers Free One-Hour Pickup for Prime Members

Seeking to capture a greater share of the online holiday shop, Whole Foods Market is rolling out free, one-hour grocery pickup at all U.S. locations for Prime members. Prime members can now shop thousands of items including fresh produce, meat and seafood, holiday favorites, everyday staples and other locally sourced items all available with free, one-hour pickup on orders of $35 or more.

“While COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of online grocery services and prompted new customers to try services like grocery pickup, it’s clear that this offering will become a more permanent solution for many customers,” said the company in a release. “In fact, more than 40% of Whole Foods Market pickup orders each month are from customers trying the service for the first time.”

The Austin-based grocer owned by e-tailing giant Amazon, further points to recent data from Global Data Research, which found that almost 68% of consumers say they will continue to use curbside pickup even when the pandemic has subsided.

To access the free curbside pickup, Prime members open the Amazon app or go to Amazon.com, click the Whole Foods Market tab, select a pickup store and start shopping. Once shoppers are ready to checkout, they select a one-hour pickup window and place their order. When ready to pick up their order, shoppers check-in using the Amazon app to let Whole Foods know the customer is on their way. The majority of customers who check-in using the Amazon App before arriving at the store wait just one minute to receive their orders after arriving, according to the company.

In addition to grocery pickup, Prime members in more than 2,000 cities and towns can receive unlimited free, two-hour delivery on more than 170,000 items from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market on orders of $35 or more. In addition to groceries, Prime members can find toys, gifts, household products and everyday essentials, electronics, Amazon devices and more available with free, two-hour delivery from Amazon Fresh.