Customers will soon no longer be able to use Instacart for Whole Foods grocery delivery.
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The San Francisco-based company announced 243 of its employed in-store shoppers would be impacted beginning Feb. 10, 2019, with the rest of its 1,415 Whole Foods shoppers experiencing the changes in the following months.
"Our multi-store shoppers will still be able to pick, pack and deliver from Whole Foods locations nationwide until they exit our marketplace," Instacart said in a news release Thursday.
The company hopes to place more than 75 percent of affected in-store Whole Foods shoppers in new in-store shopper jobs at another retailer in the area with a transfer bonus.
» RELATED: Bit by bit, Whole Foods gets an Amazon touch
Those who do not choose to take a new role or who can’t be placed in a new role will receive a minimum of 3-months separation package based on maximum monthly pay during 2018, plus tenure-based compensation.
Instacart began its partnership with Amazon-owned Whole Foods in 2014 and became the grocer’s exclusive delivery carrier in 2016, a five-year deal cut short after Amazon’s acquisition. Today, Instacart has 1,415 shoppers in 76 Whole Foods locations.
» RELATED: Amazon expands its Whole Foods grocery delivery service
"It makes sense that Amazon would now want to deliver its own groceries through its own Prime Now and AmazonFresh services," The Verge reported Thursday.
In September, Amazon also expanded its Prime Now service to allow customers to order for quick delivery from select Whole Foods Markets.
But the end of the partnership between Instacart and Whole Foods doesn't mean the end of Instacart, by any means. According to Recode, the change cuts its revenue by less than 5 percent.
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