Whole Foods Makes Good on Lower-Price Promise

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods is making good on its lower-price promise.

The organic grocer has taken the first steps to ditch its "Whole Paycheck" nickname, slashing prices on a variety of bestselling staples across all stores, starting the first day as an arm of ecommerce giant Amazon.com on Aug. 28.

As CSNews Online previously reported, the grocer announced last week its plans to lower prices on its best-selling grocery staples, like organic bananas, organic large brown eggs, responsibly farmed salmon, almond butter, organic rotisserie chicken and more. However, Whole Foods did not reveal the size and extent of the price cuts.

"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," Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, said on Aug. 24, adding that Amazon Prime also will become Whole Foods' customer rewards program, and that the grocer will work to "continuously lower prices."

Some outlets have reported price cuts from as low as 10 percent to as high as more than 40 percent.

Lower prices are one of the two most-demanded additions to Whole Foods among consumers, with 30 percent asking for them, according to new research from ChargeItSpot, a Philadelphia-based provider of charging stations for mobile devices.

According to the researcher, lower prices could increase Whole Foods' shopper base, as 84 percent of consumers said they have a positive feeling about an Amazon-owned Whole Foods, and 62 percent said that they're now more likely to shop at Whole Foods.

To read the full story, visit Convenience Store News sister publication, Progressive Grocer.