Patience with Amazon wears thin as grocery volumes remain sluggish
Amazon’s press office, meanwhile, has not responded to requests from this publication for comment on the progress of its grocery offer.
One source told FoodManufacture.co.uk that its volumes sold through the site remained pitiful, with consumers still evidently confused by the proposition and how it could fit into their grocery shopping patterns.
He added: “We struck deals to supply Amazon ready for the launch [in July] but a lot of that stock has not been sold and is starting to go out of date.”
But the source, which also suggested that Amazon had failed to market its new grocery offer very aggressively or devote sufficient resources to handling the setup process for suppliers, said it was still working closely with the online retailer to address the problems.
“We’re trying to build a strategic relationship with Amazon to help them build their capability and get the right promotions and quantities listed on the site. We are also trying to help them address the issue of building a consumer case [for buying groceries on Amazon].
“But we are not seeing Amazon as a significant volume driver anymore. In fact, quite the opposite.”
Credible team
The online retailer is still in discussions with new vendors in the grocery sector, and now boasts a range comprising almost 28,000 food and drink SKUs, 3,500 petfood items and 6,000+ home care and cleaning lines.
It has also recruited staff with strong credentials in food retail, including ex-Sainsbury’s buyer Paul Dore, who is now its senior vendor manager for grocery.
However, one ambient foods supplier told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We have been in discussion with Amazon, but nothing has come of our conversations yet, and certainly our read of the situation is that they are struggling to achieve any decent volume.
“Maybe we should be thankful that we haven’t progressed very far.”
Silver lining
Nontheless, several suppliers we contacted remained upbeat about Amazon's long-term prospects as a grocery retailer and said it was unfair to compare it with shopping at Tesco.com or Ocado because it was not trying to do the same thing.
One ethnic foods specialist said that sales had picked up after a lacklustre start, and that more customers were now using the site to buy its products in bulk.
A source at the firm added: “Generally we’ve been fairly pleased with how things have picked up.”
Radio silence
Amazon has not responded to interview requests with FoodManufacture.co.uk since its July launch.
The last communication was a statement sent over in August, in which a spokesperson addressed concerns that not enough products were available centrally via Amazon’s own distribution system, stating: “There are thousands of items available directly from Amazon.co.uk for free delivery and we will continue to work tirelessly to increase that selection.”
Amazon's fulfilment model for its new grocery store - with bulk ambient groceries delivered from Amazon’s own depots but niche and temperature-controlled products delivered directly from suppliers - has proved controversial, as customers ordering several items can potentially receive, and pay delivery charges for, several separate deliveries.
