If You Want Grocery Delivery, Get on the Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Waitlists Now
If this is your first time considering trying Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market’s delivery or pick-up services, keep in mind that you may have to spend some time on a waiting list before you can use any service to buy groceries, so you you may want to put yourself on this list right now.
As Amazon announced in a recent blog post :
We are temporarily asking new Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market customers in the delivery and pickup business to sign up for an invitation to use the online pickup and delivery service. We are increasing the capacity every week and every week we will invite new customers to the store.
In other words: if you’ve never ordered through Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market before, you’ll have to request an invitation. Yes, even if you’re eligible for Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market free shipping as part of your Amazon Prime membership.
I’ve placed Amazon Fresh orders before, so Amazon currently allows me to shop through the service with no problem (except for the limited shipping slots). When I tried to place my first order on Whole Foods Market, just to see what happened, Amazon told me that I needed to register in order to receive a notification that would tell me when I could shop.
In other words, a waiting list.
The list is new, so there is still room for a decent spot (although who knows how many people have signed up since Amazon announced). Once you get off the waitlist, you can probably take advantage of Amazon’s new shipping window feature if it’s already up and running by then:
[…] in the coming weeks, we will be launching a new feature that will allow shoppers to save time to shop. This feature will provide delivery customers with a virtual “queue” and will allow us to distribute delivery times on a first come, first served basis. At the same time, we will continue to increase capacity as quickly as possible.
Amazon also reminds shoppers that if you don’t want to wait for shopping invitations or delivery windows, you can always visit Whole Foods Market in person – if your health, risk factors, and responsibilities permit it. Keep in mind that many Whole Foods Markets have shorter hours, so be sure to check the times before heading out.