Amazon is giving 5% back to Prime members who shop at Whole Foods stores using their Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card. This marks the latest integration of the two services, following the acquisition of Whole Foods last year. Earlier, the online retailer began delivering Whole Foods groceries through Prime.
“We’ve seen incredible excitement and adoption around our Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Cards and are thrilled to partner with Amazon and Whole Foods Market to bring even more rewards to our joint cardmembers,” said Leslie Gillin, president of Chase Co-Brand Cards, according to USA Today.
Amazon cardholders who get the reward points at Whole Foods stores can either convert them into a statement credit, or redeem it online to spend at the Amazon site or other eligible sites. The payback is not just limited to Prime members, as non-Prime users will also get 3% back on Whole Foods Market purchases. All the cardholders get back 2% on restaurants, gas stations and drugstores while 1% for all other purchases, notes TechCrunch.
Users with the Amazon Prime Store Card (not Amazon Rewards Visa Credit Card) won’t be eligible for payback on Whole Foods stores, notes Recode. Other cards such as American Express Blue Cash Preferred card give as much as 6% cash back for grocery purchases, but it comes attached with the $95 annual fee.
Amazon is leaving no stone unturned to rake in more Prime members, and channel those towards Whole Foods and vice versa. Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion last year in June. After the acquisition, the former assured lower prices at the store along with a promise to make special arrangements for the Prime members such as savings and other in-store benefits.
After the acquisition last year, Amazon Worldwide Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke said that the company is planning to “make Amazon Prime the customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market.”
The online retailer actually made good on all the promises with discounts across the stores along with seasonal discounts on various events such as Thanksgiving turkeys and Valentine’s Day roses. The company also added hundreds of Whole Foods items to Amazon Fresh, the home grocery delivery service launched some ten years back. Additionally, there is also a new Whole Foods online storefront on Amazon’s websites.
Further, earlier this month, the company started two-hour delivery from Whole Foods stores in Austin, Dallas, Cincinnati and Virginia Beach to its Prime members. Amazon Prime members can take advantage of the free shipping, streaming music, video and photo storage for the $99 annual membership.
Making the integration two ways, Amazon devices such as Echo and Fire TV started appearing on the shelves of Whole Food stores. Around the Holiday season, Amazon also opened pop-up stores at Whole Foods locations to make it easier for customers to get a look and feel of the devices and learn more about Prime.
However, all has not gone well between the two companies. Amazon’s call for a new inventory management system resulted in fewer items on the shelves. Further, several employees at Whole Foods complained about the retailer crushing their morale with new procedures, according to Business Insider.
Amazon, however, is focused on greater integration between the two companies through groundbreaking technology and offers, such as fast shipping.
