U.S. consumers were surprised to wake up to news on Friday that Amazon is buying organic and natural food chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The acquisition is by far the e-retailer’s biggest to date, after having bought online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos in 2009 for $1.7 billion, game-streamer Twitch in 2014 for $970 million and The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million.

The acquisition is widely seen as a way for Amazon to expand its home delivery service, which already is putting a lot of pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers. Amazon has been trying to crack the online grocery business since 2007, when it launched AmazonFresh on Seattle’s Mercer Island, reports Quartz. Since then, Amazon has expanded the service but it hasn’t caught on like Amazon Prime has.

Beyond being able to ship kale chips, kombucha and organic popcorn by drone delivery to customers potentially bingeing on Amazon video fare such as Transparent or Goliath, observers also expect the e-tailer to turn Whole Foods’ 400-plus stores into local shipping centers, according to Recode. In some of the country’s bigger cities, Amazon is rolling out one-hour delivery service through its Prime Now offering, and having established locations in these cities should allow Amazon to advance that goal.

Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey will continue to run the company from its headquarters in Austin, Texas.

“This partnership presents an opportunity to maximize value for Whole Foods Market’s shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers,” said Mackey in a statement.

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