Whole Foods is retiring all of its loyalty programs before integrating with Amazon Prime
- Whole Foods has announced it is ending all of its online programs, including its loyalty programs and digital coupons.
- They will be phased out in May.
- The change is in anticipation of Whole Foods' integration with Amazon Prime.
Amazon is bringing more changes to Whole Foods.
The organic grocer announced on its website that it will be discontinuing all loyalty and rewards programs, effective May 2.
"Something great is cooking with Amazon," Whole Foods' website reads. "We can't wait to tell you about it."
Whole Foods is ending its pilot rewards program, digital coupons, and online accounts, including the recipe box and shopping lists functionality.
The rewards program for Whole Foods 365, the more budget-oriented version of Whole Foods, is also ending on May 1.
Amazon has plans to make Prime the rewards program for Whole Foods customers. It's not yet clear if that will be immediately implemented when the current programs sunset, but the integration has been expected for a while now.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos teased the changes in his most recent letter to shareholders.
"We've also begun the technical work needed to recognize Prime members at the point of sale and look forward to offering more Prime benefits to Whole Foods shoppers once that work is completed," he wrote on Wednesday.
In March, a Whole Foods in Austin briefly hung up banners that advertised discounts for Prime members.
The two advertisements in the store showed that Prime members could get exclusive discounts on anything marked with a blue sale tag, known as Prime Member Deals.
"Blue signs mean special deals for you. Yes, you," the Prime Member Deals sign read.
And for items marked with the store's typical yellow sale tag, Prime members would get an additional 10% discount on top of the already reduced sale price, according to the briefly displayed signs. The discounts have not yet been implemented, and it's possible they were displayed in error.
Prime members had previously been given discounts at Whole Foods, primarily on things like turkeys in time for Thanksgiving and roses before Valentine's Day.
Amazon also started giving 5% cash back on Whole Foods purchases with its Prime Visa card in February.