Morrisons’ new Amazon deal will build its role as ‘food maker and shopkeeper’

Extending the partnership forged earlier this year, the new one-hour delivery service – branded Morrisons at Amazon – will see thousands of grocery items sourced from the retailer delivered to selected areas of London and Hertforshire.

“As food maker and shopkeeper, we have unique skills to help build a broader new Morrisons through capital light growth,”​ said Potts.

‘Another exciting joint opportunity’​

“Morrisons at Amazon is another exciting joint opportunity and makes Morrisons’ good quality, great value-for-money products available to even more customers.”​

Both initiatives were predicted to contribute to the £50M–£100M incremental profit opportunity identified in the retailer’s preliminary results for 2015/2016.

From today (November 16), Amazon Prime customers in selected areas can order a full Morrisons shop online via the Prime Now app. Shoppers’ orders will be picked at a local Morrisons store and delivered same day by Amazon either within one hour for a charge of £6.99 or in a two-hour slot for free. 

Amazon’s director for Prime Now EU, Mariangela Marseglia, said: “Morrisons store selection is in addition to existing local stores available on Prime Now – John Bell & Croyden and Spirited Wines – helping us to provide more than 10,000 additional items to customers for ultra-fast delivery.”​

‘10,000 additional items​’​​

The Amazon boss added that the business looked forward to “adding more stores and reaching more customers in the future”.​

Prime members can download the Prime Now app, available on iOS and Android devices, to find eligible delivery postcodes and request notification when the service is  available in their area.

The new deal boosts the existing Prime Now offer in London, which already included more than 15,000 Amazon products, plus access to more than 180 eateries via Amazon  Restaurants.

Launched in London in June 2015, Prime Now had expanded to  reach more than 30% of the UK population, claimed Amazon. Prime Now was available in selected postcodes in London, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Birmingham,  Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Portsmouth, South Yorkshire and Glasgow.

Amazon has sold food and drink items, via Amazon.co.uk, since launching its Grocery Store in 2010.

The delivery giant claimed Amazon Prime membership grew by 51%  last year, including 47% growth in the US and even faster internationally. “There are now millions of members in the UK and tens of millions of members worldwide,”​ said Amazon.