Amazon begins offering Whole Foods deliveries via its Prime service

Amazon has taken a big step forward with Whole Foods after it began offering grocery delivery from the retailer through its Prime service.

The option is open to Prime Now customers, who get free two-hour deliveries of their products when they spend over $35. An “ultra-fast” one-hour delivery option costs $7.99 for orders of $35 or more.

The integration is limited to four regions this point — Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach — but the online commerce giant said it plans to expand the program across the U.S. this year. A representative told the Wall Street Journal that it will continue to strike similar deals with other retailers, with Sprouts Farmers Market being one such partner.

Amazon announced a deal to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion back in June of last year, and the transaction closed in August. It quickly got to work integrating the two businesses. In November, it introduced deep discount at Whole Foods for Prime customers and pushed its own devices to the retail chain, with more than 100 pop-up shops opening up to sell gadgets ahead of Christmas.

Last month, a treasure truck showed up at Whole Foods stores with deals for customers.

Those integrations are all on the brick and mortar side, so today’s integration offers a different angle that could boost the Whole Foods’ business. It’s also another reason for Americans to take out Prime membership, which already includes video and music streaming services along discounts on Amazon.com.

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