SEATTLE & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 2017--
(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon and Whole Foods Market today announced that
Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market will close on Monday August
28, 2017, and the two companies will together pursue the vision of
making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food
affordable for everyone. As a down payment on that vision, Whole Foods
Market will offer lower prices starting Monday on a selection of
best-selling grocery staples across its stores, with more to come.
In addition, Amazon and Whole Foods Market technology teams will begin
to integrate Amazon Prime into the Whole Foods Market point-of-sale
system, and when this work is complete, Prime members will receive
special savings and in-store benefits. The two companies will invent in
additional areas over time, including in merchandising and logistics, to
enable lower prices for Whole Foods Market customers.
“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for
everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality –
we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held
commitment to the highest standards,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon
Worldwide Consumer. “To get started, we’re going to lower prices
beginning Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples,
including Whole Trade organic bananas, responsibly-farmed salmon,
organic large brown eggs, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, and
more. And this is just the beginning – we will make Amazon Prime the
customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market and continuously lower
prices as we invent together. There is significant work and opportunity
ahead, and we’re thrilled to get started.”
“It’s been our mission for 39 years at Whole Foods Market to bring the
highest quality food to our customers,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods
Market co-founder and CEO. “By working together with Amazon and
integrating in several key areas, we can lower prices and double down on
that mission and reach more people with Whole Foods Market’s
high-quality, natural and organic food. As part of our commitment to
quality, we’ll continue to expand our efforts to support and promote
local products and suppliers. We can’t wait to start showing customers
what’s possible when Whole Foods Market and Amazon innovate together.”
Here’s what will be new in Whole Foods Market stores on Monday and what
customers can expect over time as the two companies integrate:
-
Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices on a
selection of best-selling staples across its stores, with much more to
come. Customers will enjoy lower prices on products like Whole Trade
bananas, organic avocados, organic large brown eggs, organic
responsibly-farmed salmon and tilapia, organic baby kale and baby
lettuce, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, creamy and crunchy
almond butter, organic Gala and Fuji apples, organic rotisserie
chicken, 365 Everyday Value organic butter, and much more.
-
In the future, after certain technical integration work is complete,
Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods Market’s customer rewards
program, providing Prime members with special savings and other
in-store benefits.
-
Whole Foods Market’s healthy and high-quality private label
products—including 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws
and Whole Catch—will be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh,
Prime Pantry and Prime Now.
-
Amazon Lockers will be available in select Whole Foods Market stores.
Customers can have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local
Whole Foods Market store for pick up or send returns back to Amazon
during a trip to the store.
This is just the beginning – Amazon and Whole Foods Market plan to offer
more in-store benefits and lower prices for customers over time as the
two companies integrate logistics and point-of-sale and merchandising
systems.
Whole Foods Market will continue to grow its team and create jobs in
local communities as it opens new stores, hires new team members, and
expands its support of local farmers and artisans. The company will
maintain operations under the Whole Foods Market brand, preserve its
high standards and commitment to providing the finest natural and
organic foods, and continue to source from trusted vendors and partners
around the world. John Mackey will remain as CEO and Whole Foods
Market’s headquarters will stay in Austin, Texas.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than
competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational
excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping,
personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle
Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa
are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more
information, visit www.amazon.com/about
and follow @AmazonNews.
About Whole Foods Market
Founded in 1978 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market is the leading
natural and organic foods supermarket, the first national “Certified
Organic” grocer, and uniquely positioned as America’s Healthiest Grocery
Store. In fiscal year 2016, the Company had sales of approximately $16
billion and has more than 460 stores in the United States, Canada, and
the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market employs approximately 87,000 team
members and has been ranked for 20 consecutive years as one of the “100
Best Companies to Work For” in America by Fortune magazine. For more
information, please visit www.WholeFoodsMarket.com
or @WholeFoods on Twitter.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Amazon
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements. We use words
such as anticipates, believes, expects, future, intends, and similar
expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could
differ materially from those projected or forecast in the
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially include the following: factors that could affect the
timing of the consummation of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods
Market; Amazon may be unable to achieve the anticipated benefits of the
transaction; revenues following the transaction may be lower than
expected; operating costs, customer loss, and business disruption
(including, without limitation, difficulties in maintaining
relationships with employees, customers, and suppliers) may be greater
than expected; Amazon may assume unexpected risks and liabilities;
initiatives with Whole Foods Market may distract Amazon’s management
from other operations; and the other factors discussed in “Risk Factors”
in Amazon’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2016 and in Amazon’s other filings with the SEC, which are
available at http://www.sec.gov.
Amazon assumes no obligation to update the information in this
communication, except as otherwise required by law. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements that speak only as of the date hereof.
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Source: Amazon
Amazon
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Whole
Foods Market
Brooke Buchanan, 512-542-0751
Brooke.buchanan@wholefoods.com