The long rumoured launch seems set for this month as the ecommerce giant looks to have ironed out how it will handle distribution and fulfillment, and how it will warehouse and manage the delivery of a fresh and frozen product range out of its East London depot.
UK Grocery Model Disruption is Good for Shoppers
It’s yet to be seen whether Amazon’s strengths in range and delivery that has made it into a global online powerhouse will translate to the UK Grocery model, currently enthralled in a price war between the big four retailers spurred on by competition from German discounters.
Will AmazonFresh UK be able to compete with the breadth of range at Tesco, or the depth of offering and upmarket appeal of Ocado for instance? The most likely outcome in the short term could see Amazon nestling in between the two, leveraging its global commercial relationships to offer ranges that meet a wide variety of shopping missions, while also being competitively priced.
The UK market is already relatively mature when it comes to online grocery shopping – at least in terms sales value. However, UK retailers have been slow to truly embrace online store capabilities needed to drive shopper engagement. Amazon is the leader when it comes to delivering the fully optimised and engaging online shopping experience.
AmazonFresh UK Could Edge Out Incumbents
With Amazon, online grocery consumers can expect a shopping trip that is appealing and content-rich. Amazon’s ability to leverage a vast array of technologies and online store capabilities offers it the potential to trump incumbents – even Ocado which up to now was considered strong when it comes to its online shop.
All in all, good news for the online shopper, but what does it mean for brands keen to succeed in the online channel? It might be time to review your category management strategy for the online channel to make sure you are ready for the changes to come
