Amazon has expanded its reach by launching a grocery delivery service in the UK.
Its Amazon Pantry aspires to undercut the major retailers in the run-up to the Christmas holidays as well as cutting into the habit of a weekly shop, a pattern which is already on the wane.
More than 4,000 branded food and drink items are on offer including pet and infant supplies and health and beauty products, excluding fresh fruit and veg. It also has pre-assembled special occasion packages such as a party or a weekend away.
Boxed orders are charged at £2.99 next day nationwide delivery fee for the first 20kg order and 99p per additional box.
Although the service is available only to subscribers of Amazon Prime, the cost of membership was cut to £59 a year, with new customers gaining early access to Black Friday shopping deals, the biggest online shopping day of the year.
Black Friday will be on 27 November. The massive sale date follows a recent US custom to discount goods after Thanksgiving Day, thereby ruining what used to be a marvellous four day break free of any commercialisation.
In the US, Amazon’s grocery delivery now includes a Dash Button which is designed to automatically re-order supplies of specific products when the button is pressed.
Britain’s ‘Big Four’ supermarkets are already trying to contend with the rise in popularity of the ace discounters Aldi and Lidl. The introduction of Amazon Pantry could make further dents in their profits.
Amazon has been selling groceries in the UK for a while. It started the Grocery Store section on its website in 2010, selling about 200,000 household items.
Amazon Pantry is already available in the US, Japan, Germany and Austria.
