Amazon, Whole Foods, and Amazon Fresh join forces

Amazon is riding high on the success of its biggest Prime Big Deal Days event and this week announced a new strategy that combines products from its three brands — Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods Market — making them available to shoppers online in one order.

The online retail giant announced on Wednesday that it has modified the fulfillment centers at 26 Amazon Fresh stores around the globe to include select products from Whole Foods Market and Amazon.com. 

Shoppers near those fulfillment centers can now place orders that include a wide range of price tiers from those Amazon Fresh locations, including natural, organic, and specialty products from Whole Foods, more affordable grocery items from Amazon Fresh, and national brand products such as Coke, Kraft, and Tide from Amazon.com. 

“Based on customer response, we plan to convert more of our existing fulfillment centers to this model over time to give more customers access to our broad selection in one simple experience,” Amazon said in a press release. 

Similarly, Amazon is launching a related pilot project at a Whole Foods store in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., where the retailer is building its first-ever automated micro fulfillment center that will enable shoppers to also purchase products from Amazon Fresh and Amazon.com.

That expansion will allow shoppers in the area to purchase products from all three entities in-store and online for delivery or pickup, the retailer said. 

“Let’s imagine a customer is shopping in-store. As they browse the aisles for their favorite Whole Foods Market products, they can also easily place an order for Tide Pods and Pepsi from the Amazon app on their phone,” Amazon said in the press release. “These additional items will be prepared in the back-of-house while the customer finishes up shopping, and will be ready to go when they check out — all within minutes after placing the order.”

Amazon’s most ambitious pilot project that combines its three brands is taking place in Phoenix, Ariz., where members of its Amazon Prime loyalty program can purchase grocery items along with tens of thousands of items available on Amazon.com. 

That includes same-day delivery and multiple delivery window options, Amazon said. 

“We’re going to continue to expand to more locations as we test and learn with this model,” Amazon said. “Over time, we expect to see more and more customers using same-day delivery from Amazon to shop for fresh groceries or get ingredients for meals.”

Claire Peters, Worldwide vice president at Amazon Fresh, discussed the challenge of capturing shoppers who purchase products across various channels on Tuesday at the annual Groceryshop convention in Las Vegas, Nev.

The wide variety of options available to customers these days for groceries and household essentials has made it increasingly challenging over the last two decades to capture shoppers. 

“It's just really, really tough,” Peters said. “ When you think most customers will go to four to five grocery retailers a month, that's pretty hard. We believe at Amazon that we can change that by making grocery shopping as easy every day for customers, making it affordable, making it simple, making it fast.”

Separately, Amazon announced good news from its annual Prime Big Deal Days event on Thursday, noting that the sale for Prime members on Oct. 8-9 was the online retailer’s biggest yet. 

Amazon said its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, which was launched in February, was used by millions of Prime members during the sale, answering questions and making tailored recommendations on deals. 

Amazon noted that Prime shoppers also used both its Inspire in-app mobile shopping tool to find deals in a personalized feed and its Amazon Lens tool that helps shoppers find similar products on Amazon.com. 

"Our 2024 Prime Big Deal Days event marked a strong start to the holiday shopping season, with record-breaking sales and participation from Prime members worldwide,” Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a press release.