Beef, salmon, avocados, and more will be cheaper for everyone starting next week.

Amazon has the official green light to go through with its acquisition of Whole Foods, and customers will soon feel the difference in their wallets. According to a press release from Amazon, the company is set to lower prices of Whole Foods items the same day that the merger closes: Monday, August 28.

“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone," Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, wrote in the release. "Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality."

Customers shopping at Whole Foods locations on Monday will see new, lower prices on various "grocery staples," including organic bananas, apples, salmon, organic large brown eggs, lean ground beef, avocados, and more. Amazon didn't detail how low those new prices would be, but any change is likely welcomed by Whole Foods customers. The store has been cheekily called "Whole Paycheck," due to how much money one can spend on a week's worth of groceries there.
As with most new Amazon initiatives, the company is folding its $99-per-year membership program into the Whole Foods mix. Amazon Prime customers will receive additional discounts on some Whole Foods products in the future. Once all the technical aspects are in place, Prime members will automatically be part of a Whole Foods customer rewards program that gives them discounts and other store perks. Amazon loves to add value to its Prime program in order to encourage as many people as possible to sign up, and it hopes that adding a Whole Foods component will lure new members to the program.

Amazon will also sell Whole Foods private-label products on its website, Amazon Fresh, Prime Pantry, and Prime Now. For now, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods' grocery delivery program continue to be separate, but in the future we should see Amazon marry the programs more. Amazon will also be setting up Lockers in select Whole Foods locations, allowing customers to ship Amazon orders to a local grocery store Locker for convenient pickup.

News of Amazon buying Whole Foods shook the grocery industry in June, and these new plans are doing the same. Kroger shares were down eight percent yesterday, and Walmart shares fell two percent yesterday as well. Amazon is certainly a new threat to the grocery industry now that it has all of Whole Foods' 460 stores under its belt, but its online retail scale is still its best asset. Amazon Fresh has been around for a while, but customers still like to buy their groceries at a store rather than adding unseen fruits and veggies to an online cart. Companies like Walmart and Costco still have an advantage since they have more physical stores than Whole Foods. However, it's possible that customers will shop at a nearby Whole Foods location, see the price changes and new perks Amazon brought to the chain, and be more willing to shop online for Whole Foods items (and others) on Amazon's website.