Amazon.com (AMZN) shares gained Monday after a report said the company plans to expand its U.S. Whole Foods grocery stores. Amazon stock was up more than 2% in recent action.
The e-commerce giant aims to add locations to suburbs and other areas where the organic grocer is adding more customers. The report comes from the Wall Street Journal, which cited a person familiar with the plans. The move would allow more customers to tap into Amazon's Prime Now two-hour delivery service.
A spokesperson for Amazon couldn't immediately be reached by Bloomberg News.
Amazon has pushed to expand in the $840 billion grocery business since buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017. Amazon has used discounts to lure Prime members to physical Whole Foods stores.
Now, it needs more stores that are closer to more people, according to a recent report by Sense360. Amazon's Prime Now service offers delivery from Whole Foods in as little as an hour in more than 60 cities.
Amazon intends to expand its delivery and pickup services to almost all of its more than 400 Whole Foods stores in the U.S., the Journal said.
Despite its investment in the stores, the number of Amazon Prime members who shop for groceries at least once a month declined in 2018. That compares with 2017, according to an annual consumer survey by UBS.
The Journal reported Whole Foods employees have looked at potential retail locations in the Rocky Mountain region. Those include locations in Idaho, southern Utah and Wyoming. Some of those spaces were about 45,000 square feet, according to the report.
Amazon stock climbed 1.6% to close at 1,501.97.
The post Amazon Stock Climbs On Plans To Add More Whole Foods Locations appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.
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