Amazon PR: Growing European Online Grocery Shopping
Trying to prove to all European unbelievers that you can actually order anything on the Internet and have it delivered to you without actually going out of your house, Amazon is concentrating on online groceries store. After having effectively run an US grocery service ever since 2006 and recently launching a similar in Germany which probably was deemed a successful move, Amazon.co.uk has just kicked off an online grocery store, aiming to take on established players such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose.
To compete on the already tough market of the UK Internet grocery orders, the famous online retailer has come up with several options for those wanting their goods deliver to support their impressive product line of 22,000 different choices, from cleaning products, to food and beverages and even pet food.
As Amazon.co.uk representatives have explained, customers can pick to pay an annual fee of 49 pounds, the equivalent of 73.50 US dollars, and have an unlimited number of items delivered for free or go for the Free Super Saver delivery that takes 2 to 5 days after the items have been dispatched. The free delivery option only applies to items provided by Amazon and not other vendors using the online retailer’s market place. Delivery times also depend on customer choices regarding the number of shipments the purchased items can be divided into.
As fresh products cannot be delivered in up to five days and not supplied by Amazon.co.uk, they have crafted another option for such occasion and for any other goods purchased from marketplace vendors – each supplier will be responsible for delivery and come up with their own prices and times.
While the new options do make Amazon.co.uk look extremely flexible, the new online grocery shopping service discourages customers that want to by from third party vendors – in their cases the shipping costs are way too high, sometimes amounting to three times the price of the ordered product.
There still isn’t any information on which countries will be next, but Amazon.co.uk has stated they are planning to keep adding new products to the impressive range they currently feature.
