Amazon to take on UK supermarkets with new food service

Amazon will take on UK supermarkets with the launch of a new food service today.

Under the scheme called AmazonFresh, Prime members will be able to do their weekly grocery shopping on the site and have it delivered the same day.

The service is currently in operation only in certain parts of London, which Amazon will  consider rolling out to other parts of the UK in the future.

Over 130,000 products from big brands and local markets and independent shops would be  available on the Fresh section of Amazon UK, which would be open to access in 69 central and east London postcodes.

Major brands that would be sold on the site included Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Walkers and Yeo Valley, and thousands of Morrisons products.

Customers would have the option of one-hour delivery slots available from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days a week. Orders received before 1:00 pm would be delivered after 5:00 pm of the same day.

The retailer had promised ''low prices across its entire selection'', which included fresh food such as fruit, vegetables and meat as also pet supplies, baby and beauty products.

Commentators pointed out that though a list of 33 standard grocery items available on AmazonFresh, including butter, lettuce and quiche, totalled £58.93 – nearly a pound less than Asda, not every item cost less than in the supermarket.

Amazon would put its partnership with Morrisons to good use to supply the Bradford-based supermarket's own-branded products, such as biscuits or sausages, which meant it could compete against supermarkets' cheaper white-label brands.

The majority of its items would however, be branded goods, such as Flora margarine, Cornetto ice creams or Yeo Valley yoghurts, for which Amazon had said it would benchmark prices against Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda Morrisons and Waitrose.

In addition to household names, Amazon Fresh would also start a delivery service for 50 independent food retailers, such as Borough Market confectioner Konditor & Cook, London bakers Gail's, and Soho's Pizza Pilgrims.

 ''The bar in grocery retailing is exceptionally high. The supermarkets and grocers are amongst the very best retailers in the world,'' Ajay Kavan, vice-president of Amazon Fresh, told The Daily Telegraph.

''We believe that the key to the long term success of Amazon Fresh is to bring together the low prices, vast selection, fast delivery options and customer experience that Amazon customers know and love.''