Amazon’s quest to gain a foothold in the UK grocery market has seen another development, with the UK branch of the online retailer launching its grocery box delivery service, Amazon Pantry.
The service, exclusive to Amazon Prime members, allows shoppers to fill 20kg boxes with groceries from a selection of more than 4,000 household goods.
Next day delivery of a single box is priced at £2.99, with additional boxes costing 99p thereafter.
While the service includes a number of household brands, including Walkers, Heinz and Kellogg’s, it doesn’t offer any fresh, frozen or chilled products.
While Pantry has furthered Amazon’s foray into the grocery delivery market, therefore, Amazon is going to need more to compete with UK supermarkets – the obvious question is why go out of your way to place a separate order for dry household goods when you could do it all in one?
The service does have a unique offering in its “themed boxes”; pre-curated boxes suited to specific occasions, such as a weekend away, a birthday party or even the arrival of a baby (not supplied by Amazon).
The Hub has previously speculated as to whether Amazon is preparing to launch its Amazon Fresh service in the UK, which could potentially provide more competition to the Ocados of the country – a rumour which seemed more plausible after the retailer signed a lease on two former supermarket warehouses in Surrey and Leicester.
We are still waiting for Fresh to be delivered to the UK, however, so shoppers keen to turn to Amazon for their food deliveries will just have to stock up on baked beans and Bovril in the mean time.