Morrisons partners with Amazon for online delivery

Thursday, March 3, 2016 - 15:10 by Mike Price

People looking to buy grocery items without heading to a supermarket will be able to access both fresh and frozen products sold by Morrisons online, thanks to a new partnership the retailer has struck with e-commerce giant, Amazon.

The Guardian reports that the two companies will be working together to enable customers who have Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry accounts to buy various types of food and get their grocery orders delivered to their doors.

Morrisons was late to the game when it came to offering safe shopping online to customers, lagging years behind rivals like Tesco and Sainsbury’s in terms of entering the e-commerce market. But this new partnership could give it a significant boost, while also enabling Amazon to make more of a splash in an area where it has only just started to gain traction.

Morrisons spokesperson, David Potts, said that with the help of Amazon, which is providing the delivery infrastructure to help distribute food orders placed online, his firm will be able to broaden the range of services it offers. He also said that he expects the relationship with Amazon to expand in the coming months, hinting at yet more big changes on the horizon.

Of course, this is not the first partnership that Morrisons has forged in the e-commerce space, with a previous association with Ocado enabling it to start offering a food delivery service. But Amazon is a much bigger player, with this announcement no doubt putting rival supermarkets on the back foot.

A five per cent rise in Morrisons’ share price reflected the significance of this deal, although ultimately, it will be down to consumers to decide whether or not the experience that it offers can live up to the hype.