Whole Foods rolls out one-hour pickup chainwide

Amazon Prime members have a new perk.

Amazon is offering free, one-hour pickup at all locations of its Whole Foods Market grocery chain for members of its Amazon Prime paid loyalty program. The service applies to all orders of $35 or more.

Amazon launched one-hour pickup at Whole Foods stores in Sacramento and Virginia Beach in August 2018, and has been expanding the offering to more U.S. metros ever since. 

Prime members can open the Amazon app or visit the Whole Foods Market tab on the Amazon site, select a pickup store, and start shopping. Once they’re ready to check out, they can select a one-hour pickup window that works for them and place their order. When they’re ready to pick up their order, they can check-in using the Amazon app to let the store know they’re on their way. 

By rolling out this service to Whole Foods stores nationwide, Amazon is increasing the competitiveness of its grocery offering with that of chief rival Walmart. According to a recent survey from fresh grocery delivery service Good Eggs, a leading 56% of respondents purchase groceries online from Walmart. Amazon Prime/Whole Foods came in second with 50%.

In addition, Amazon is adding another benefit to Prime membership as Walmart’s newly-launched Walmart Plus shopping subscription gets off to a fast start. Data from Pipslay Research reveals 11% of Americans had already subscribed to Walmart Plus within two weeks of its Sept. 15 launch.

According to Amazon, the majority of customers who check-in using the Amazon app before arriving at a Whole Foods store wait just one minute to receive their orders after arriving. Amazon data also indicates that more than 40% of Whole Foods Market pickup orders each month are from customers trying the service for the first time. 

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.