San Francisco, Aug 25 (IANS): Amazon.com, now closing its acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc., announced on Thursday its plan to make the latter's natural and organic food "affordable for everyone."

As what the world's largest internet-based retailer called "a down payment," the grocery store chain featuring foods without artificial preservatives, colours, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats will offer lower prices starting next Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples across its stores.

Monday will also be the day that Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods Market will close, Xinhua news agency reported.

Whole Foods, Headquartered in Austin, Texas, has more than 460 stores in the US, Canada and Britain.

Initially estimated to worth $13.7 billion, the all-cash transaction has been expected to result in lowering of prices at Whole Foods stores.

The e-commerce giant headquartered in Seattle, Washington state, said it will begin to integrate Amazon Prime, a paid subscription service offered by Amazon.com that gives users access to free one-day delivery and other benefits, into the Whole Foods Market point-of-sale system, and when this work is complete, Prime members will receive special savings and in-store benefits.

Known to have a deep pocket for cash and for aggressive market outreach, Amazon noted that "this is just the beginning -- Amazon and Whole Foods Market plan to offer more in-store benefits and lower prices for customers over time as the two companies integrate logistics and point-of-sale and merchandising systems."