The Amazon-ification of Whole Foods continues.
The Amazon Prime credit card will start giving 5 percent back on Whole Foods purchases
And non-Prime members with the regular Amazon Rewards Visa card will earn 3 percent back.
Kurt Wagner / Recode
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.
Starting on Tuesday, Whole Foods shoppers who pay with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa card will earn 5 percent back at the grocery chain’s U.S. stores.
Amazon customers who aren’t Prime members, but who pay with the regular Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card, will earn 3 percent back.
Both cards already offer 5 percent and 3 percent back, respectively, on Amazon.com purchases.
When Amazon purchased Whole Foods for $14 billion last year, it promised that the Prime shipping and entertainment membership program would become the loyalty program of Whole Foods, too.
Earlier this month, it started delivering on that promise by offering free two-hour delivery from Whole Foods to Prime members in four cities. This week’s announcement marks another big step, and likely not the last.
The company is hoping that the perks will get more Prime members shopping from Whole Foods, and get existing customers to shop more frequently. Amazon also likely saves some money on credit card fees when Whole Foods customers pay with one of its branded cards than with another credit card.
Amazon has made some other moves since the takeover. In August, Amazon cut prices of some Whole Foods bestsellers by as much as 43 percent. But by December, there were reports of some prices inching higher. The e-commerce giant has also started selling Amazon Echo devices inside Whole Foods stores.
It has also faced challenges. Whole Foods stores have faced food shortages that employees blame on a new inventory-management system.
Amazon cardholders who earn rewards at Whole Foods stores can choose to convert them into a statement credit or can redeem them online to make purchases on Amazon or on other eligible sites.
Amazon customers who have the Amazon Prime Store Card — not the Amazon Rewards Visa credit card — won’t earn money back at Whole Foods. The company would not say why.
Some other credit cards — such as the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card — give as much as 6 percent back for grocery store purchases. But that one, in particular, comes with a $95 annual fee.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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