Amazon launches online grocery service

Monday, July 12, 2010 - 11:18 by Paul Tissington

Online retailer Amazon has launched a new section of its website that is designed to cater to food lovers around the UK with many gastronomic delights from groceries through to gourmet products.

Many people already manage some or all of their grocery shopping online with the big name supermarket brands such as Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and Ocado but Amazon is now taking on the mainstream grocery players with its own online food store.

If you click on the grocery and gourmet tab on the Amazon site you can view the current offerings, although it is worth noting that the finalised version of this service has not yet been made available and, for the time being, it is described as being in beta testing.

Amazon has quite an array of products available from its grocery store, including all of the major brands that you would expect to find at your local supermarket. The items are categorised logically and in the same style as the other products for which Amazon is best known. The grocery section also includes some rather more unusual items to suit those with international tastes or an appetite for experimentation.

With the Amazon brand you are assured of safe shopping online and long-term users of the site should feel perfectly at home with the way in which the new grocery service operates.

Amazon has partnered with premium cookware manufacturer Le Creuset to offer a range of discounted products to help consumers prepare the food they buy in style and it seems as though its range of kitchen accessories will expand if the grocery store proves to be successful.

Amazon is an unknown entity in the online grocery market, although it brings its reputation for safe shopping online across from its mainstream business, so it will be interesting to see how it fares in this competitive UK market sector.