Business Insider/Hayley Peterson
Whole Foods' IT problems could be causing headaches for Amazon.
- Whole Foods' information technology systems, which include its registers and scanners, are plagued by problems, according to a source with knowledge of the issues. This could be the reason Amazon Prime perks haven't yet rolled out for shoppers.
- "Just in the past month and a half there have been more critical failures than I have seen since it was rolled out a few years ago," a source told Business Insider.
- This may be why Amazon plans to start processing Whole Foods transactions through its own IT systems, rather than Whole Foods' registers, later this month.
- Amazon is also in the process of shifting Whole Foods' IT to its cloud service, Amazon Web Services, internal documents reveal.
Amazon Prime members are anxiously awaiting a new Whole Foods loyalty program, perhaps with a 10% discount on sale items, that's expected to be announced soon.
According to documents, emails and discussions with sources familiar with the matter, Business Insider has learned one potential reason for a delay: the technology that powers Whole Foods stores is repeatedly crashing.
Whole Foods' information technology systems, which includes its registers and scanners, have been plagued by critical problems, according to a source with knowledge of the issues.
"Just in the past month and a half there have been more critical failures than I have seen since it was rolled out a few years ago," this person said.
Whole Foods declined to respond to this story. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Technology failures at large companies like Whole Foods are common. But they could be causing a serious headache for Amazon, which purchased the grocery chain nine months ago in a $13.7 billion deal.
Amazon has been promising to roll out a new loyalty program for Whole Foods shoppers who are members of its Prime program. Whole Foods is expected to announce the new perks for Prime shoppers any day now, after ending its own loyalty program on May 2.
"Everyone is stressed the launch isn't going to go smoothly because of issues with our point-of-sale software that runs our cash registers," our source said.
Whole Foods' IT problems within the last month include registers failing to apply sales taxes at checkout, accepting credit cards, issues with store balance updates, and a total loss of connectivity between Whole Foods' stores and its global headquarters in Austin, according to internal emails reviewed by Business Insider.
Business Insider/Hayley Peterson
These problems may be why Amazon is planning to shift some Whole Foods transactions to its own IT systems.
Later this month, Whole Foods stores will start using Amazon systems, instead of Whole Foods' point-of-sale (POS) systems, to process orders for its grocery deliver service to Amazon Prime customers, Prime Now, according to an internal memo reviewed by Business Insider.
Whole Foods is referring to the transition internally as "POS Bypass."
At the same time, Amazon is working to shift Whole Foods IT systems onto its cloud, Amazon Web Services, internal documents revealed.
The shift to AWS will usher in a host of other technology updates for Whole Foods, according to a recent job post seeking a program manager for a Whole Foods "tech rebuild."
"Whole Foods Market is rapidly transforming our foundational technology footprint and applying a cloud-first strategy starting with AWS," the post says. "You will be responsible for managing multiple and concurrent projects of varying scale and complexity as WFM migrates technology and applications to AWS, enhances our network, updates our data-centers, and rearchitects our many applications."
If you work for Whole Foods and have information to share, contact hpeterson@businessinsider.com.
