Online retail giant Amazon has announced that they will be launching an online supermarket service in the UK, AmazonFresh.
From Thursday 9th June, Amazon will be launching a brand new online supermarket service with a staggering 130,000 products to choose from. They will be selling 20,000 food and drink staples including bread, cheese, veg, baked beans and cereal, and 110,000 household items such as cleaning and laundry products and toiletries.
And that's not all. Amazon is also offering Amazon Prime shoppers same day delivery on orders placed before 1pm, as well as hourly slots from 7am to 11am, seven days a week.
In October 2015, Amazon announced that they'd be selling a small amount of food products online. Since then, they've increased the product range to today launch AmazonFresh as a larger, supermarket section on their website selling well-known brand names including Morrisons, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Danone, Warburtons, Walkers, Yeo Valley and many more.
Amazon UK has offered food and drink items for many years, having launched its Grocery Store in 2010. The Grocery Store features hundreds of thousands of products including many niche, international and healthy options. In November 2015, Amazon UK launched Amazon Pantry, a nationwide service exclusive to Amazon Prime members, offering more than 7,000 low-priced everyday essentials in everyday sizes, including food and drink, household supplies, baby and child care, pet, and health and beauty products. AmazonFresh is the next big step up for the online retailer.
And it's good news for us mums, as AmazonFresh aims to keep up with competitor prices, too. According to research from The Grocer an AmazonFresh weekly shop cost an average of £58.93, whereas an ASDA shop cost £59.90, Tesco cost £60.86 and Morrisons and Sainsbury's were well over £60. AmazonFresh has therefore been said to be cheaper than budget supermarket ASDA.
'The bar in grocery retailing is exceptionally high. The supermarkets and grocers are amongst the very best retailers in the world,' said Ajay Kavan, Vice President of AmazonFresh. 'We believe that the key to the long term success of AmazonFresh is to bring together the low prices, vast selection, fast delivery options and customer experience that Amazon customers know and love.'
The service itself will not be free however, as you have to be a member of Amazon Prime to use the online supermarket as well as pay a monthly fee of £6.99 to be a member.
This service is currently only available for customers in central and east London but Amazon plan to roll the deliveries out further across the UK in future. You can see if your home is eligible for delivery by checking Amazon's list of postcodes.
Ajay Kavan from AmazonFresh says; 'We are launching with a comprehensive offer in a limited area and will take our time to hone our service.'
What do you think about the new Amazon online supermarket service? Will you be giving it a go?
