Amazon to pop-up—at Whole Foods Market
Amazon is leveraging its newest acquisition to drive sales during the upcoming holiday shopping season.
The online giant will set up Amazon Pop-Up stores in a handful of Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. The dedicated spaces will enable Whole Foods customers to try out Amazon devices and learn about Prime and its other services.
The pop-ups are in addition to the 100 Whole Foods locations that now carry Amazon devices, such as the new Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, among other gadgets, Whole Foods reported.
The first locations will open on Nov. 13, in Chicago, Illinois; and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Pop-ups will subsequently open in Davie, Florida; Pasadena, California; and in the new Union Station store in Denver. All locations will be staffed by Amazon employees.
This is not the first time that the online giant is leveraging its Whole Foods division as an additional Amazon sales channel. On its first day as the official owner of the natural foods grocer, a transaction worth $13.7 billion, Amazon positioned its Echo voice-assisted speaker as one of Whole Foods’ featured “Pick of The Season” discounted products. The deal slashed prices down to $99.99 for a full-size speaker, and $44.99 for the Echo Dot.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods lowered prices on a selection of its best-selling grocery staples across its stores, with the price cuts reportedly broader than the retailer previously announced. It is also adding Amazon Lockers to store locations.
Looking ahead, Amazon plans to further integrate the two brands. One developing plan is the integration of Prime within the Whole Foods network. Specifically, both companies are exploring how to “make Prime the Whole Foods customer rewards program,” Brian Olsavsky, senior VP, CFO said on Amazon’s third quarter investors’ call on Oct. 26. “We’ll have that coming out in the future.”
The online giant will set up Amazon Pop-Up stores in a handful of Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. The dedicated spaces will enable Whole Foods customers to try out Amazon devices and learn about Prime and its other services.
The pop-ups are in addition to the 100 Whole Foods locations that now carry Amazon devices, such as the new Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, among other gadgets, Whole Foods reported.
The first locations will open on Nov. 13, in Chicago, Illinois; and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Pop-ups will subsequently open in Davie, Florida; Pasadena, California; and in the new Union Station store in Denver. All locations will be staffed by Amazon employees.
This is not the first time that the online giant is leveraging its Whole Foods division as an additional Amazon sales channel. On its first day as the official owner of the natural foods grocer, a transaction worth $13.7 billion, Amazon positioned its Echo voice-assisted speaker as one of Whole Foods’ featured “Pick of The Season” discounted products. The deal slashed prices down to $99.99 for a full-size speaker, and $44.99 for the Echo Dot.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods lowered prices on a selection of its best-selling grocery staples across its stores, with the price cuts reportedly broader than the retailer previously announced. It is also adding Amazon Lockers to store locations.
Looking ahead, Amazon plans to further integrate the two brands. One developing plan is the integration of Prime within the Whole Foods network. Specifically, both companies are exploring how to “make Prime the Whole Foods customer rewards program,” Brian Olsavsky, senior VP, CFO said on Amazon’s third quarter investors’ call on Oct. 26. “We’ll have that coming out in the future.”