Key takeaways

Whole Foods Market’s new concept store in Plymouth Meeting combines its natural and organic products with Amazon’s national name-brand groceries and household essentials, allowing customers to complete their entire shopping list in one location.
The store features a 10,000-square-foot automated micro-fulfillment center that houses over 12,000 unique items, enabling customers to order additional products via QR codes while shopping in-store or through online delivery and pickup options.
Amazon plans to refine and expand this offering to additional stores over time.

Amazon today introduced a new concept designed to make grocery shopping even easier. The new shopping experience in Plymouth Meeting, PA provides even more selection, value and convenience when grocery shopping in-store or online. Customers can now quickly and easily shop Whole Foods Market's full selection of natural and organic grocery items alongside national name-brand groceries and everyday essentials from Amazon all in one location, giving them more of what they want in one stop or one order when shopping online for grocery delivery or pickup.

To enable this expanded selection, we constructed a 10,000-square-foot automated micro-fulfillment center within the existing store’s back-of-house area. This micro-fulfillment center houses over 12,000 unique items from Whole Foods Market and Amazon—enabling customers to order Whole Foods Market's full assortment of fresh, organic produce, dairy, meat, and private brand items, along with Amazon best-sellers in complementary categories such as Household Essentials, Personal Care, Snacks, Beverages, Frozen items, and more. Orders are prepared within minutes whether customers shop online or via QR codes while shopping in person at the store.

"At Whole Foods Market, we've always taken pride in offering a wide selection of natural and organic products, but we understand our customers appreciate the convenience of one-stop shopping," said Jason Buechel, vice president of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and CEO of Whole Foods Market. "We're making grocery shopping more convenient for customers by thoughtfully blending our grocery offerings and leveraging new fulfillment capabilities in creative ways. This new concept store experience allows customers to get everything on their shopping list in one convenient stop or one online order, combining quality with convenience while still delivering the exceptional shopping experience customers expect."

Shopper selecting item from digital shelf display in grocery store

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Shoppers at the Plymouth Meeting location will find QR codes throughout the store. Once scanned with their smartphone camera, the QR code will open up their Amazon app and take them to a custom mobile storefront. From there, they will have access to thousands of additional products available beyond the store shelves. This curated selection gives customers the option to add items like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Cheddar Crackers, Nestlé Drumstick Original Sundae Cones, Tide Laundry Detergent Pods, Johnson Baby Shampoo, Swiffer Refills, and much more to their Whole Foods Market shopping cart in the Amazon app. When ready, often in less than 10 minutes, customers will receive a text notification to collect their Amazon items at the Amazon Pickup & Returns Counter after finishing up their Whole Foods Market shopping.

Customer with whole Foods and Amazon Prime bag grabs items from the counter

Local customers shopping Whole Foods Market online can also benefit from this expanded selection. When shopping the Whole Foods Market online store in the Amazon app or on Amazon.com on a mobile device, they will discover an expanded product selection that includes not only Whole Foods Market's full assortment, but also a wide selection of everyday essentials and national name-brand groceries from Amazon. This allows shoppers to build one complete cart with everything they need for pickup or delivery—all with just one online checkout. Pickup of orders remains the same: customers can choose curbside service with loading assistance or head inside the store to pick up their order.

Grocery pickup is free for all customers on orders of any size; and for Amazon Prime members, grocery delivery includes a $9.95 service fee. Alternatively, Prime members can subscribe to Amazon's grocery delivery subscription for $9.99 per month, which provides unlimited delivery on orders over $25 from Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and other local grocery and specialty retailers on Amazon.com. The grocery delivery subscription pays for itself after just one delivery order per month and offers even more convenient delivery and pickup options.

The new micro-fulfillment center at Plymouth Meeting utilizes technology from Fulfil, a Silicon Valley robotics company. Unlike traditional systems designed for general e-commerce, Fulfil’s platform was built specifically for grocery. The system uses autonomous ShopBots to sort, retrieve, and stage products across all temperature zones—keeping fulfillment activities behind the scenes to minimize disruption to the in-store experience.

The system efficiently manages both Whole Foods Market inventory and the extended Amazon selection from a single automated facility. Orders are prepared within minutes before handoff to an employee who then finalizes it for customer delivery or pickup.

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Amazon is already one of the largest grocers in the U.S., generating over $100 billion in gross sales—even when you exclude sales from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. Our Same-Day grocery delivery network alongside Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and a variety of local grocery and specialty retailers available on Amazon.com work together to provide quality selection, competitive prices, and convenient shopping options that meet the diverse needs of customers across the country.

This concept launch at Plymouth Meeting Whole Foods Market is another exciting way we are making grocery shopping even easier for customers. As we gather customer feedback from this first location, we plan to refine and expand this offering to additional stores over time.

Next, explore 3 new ways Amazon is making grocery shopping faster, easier, and more flexible.