Whole Foods Halts Rewards Program; Will Amazon Prime Replace It?

There’s been another step in the “Amazon-ification” of Whole Foods Markets. The retailer will end its 365 Rewards program and digital coupons by May 1. An email to members of the loyalty program indicates that it will soon be folded into the Amazon Prime program, according to MarketWatch.

In February, Amazon announced that it would begin delivering Whole Foods groceries via its Prime Now one- and two-hour delivery service in select U.S. markets, with plans to expand throughout 2018.

The integration of Amazon Prime is one of the most significant developments in the retailers’ relationship, according to Cooper Smith, Director of Amazon Research at Gartner L2. Smith called Amazon Prime “the most successful loyalty program in retail,” in an interview with Retail TouchPoints, adding that “Amazon needed to integrate Prime into Whole Foods as the proxy to establishing loyalty with their customers, which of course is super important in grocery.”