Amazon Brings Whole Foods Prime Deliveries To NYC, Florida

The benefits of Amazon’s multi-billion dollar purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017 continue to expand to customers. Amazon announced in a company press release Tuesday that Prime subscribers can get food delivered to their homes in 24 cities across the U.S.

The newest additions to the Whole Foods Prime delivery family are in or near the major markets of New York City and Florida. Unspecified parts of Long Island can now take advantage of same-day grocery deliveries from Whole Foods, as can residents of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

In Florida, residents of Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Miami now have access to Whole Foods deliveries through Prime Now. Those markets are hugely competitive for grocery chains, per CNBC. Amazon will compete with Walmart’s Jet delivery service and chains like Publix as it tries to secure the market through deliveries of organic foods.

Walmart acquired the Jet service in 2016, but the results have been mixed. The site suffered a 60 percent decline in traffic year-over-year in March, according to Bloomberg.

These deliveries can be arranged through the Prime Now website or app. If a customer’s ZIP code is eligible, they will be able to get a bundle of organic goods delivered to their doorsteps in as little as an hour, per Amazon. The massive e-commerce company has already dabbled with fresh-food delivery services in the past with Amazon Fresh.

Amazon purchased Whole Foods for $13.4 billion but it took several months to properly fold the organic grocery store chain into the Amazon product line. It was not until May 2018 that Amazon allowed Prime members to get savings on select items at Whole Foods stores by using a mobile app.

Even then, it took about a month and a half for Prime savings at Whole Foods stores to be available nationwide. Amazon’s press release committed to more delivery coverage across the U.S. throughout the rest of 2018. As of now, the service is available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Shares of Amazon (AMZN) were trading higher on Tuesday afternoon.