Amazon expanding same-day delivery in new challenge to physical supermarkets

Amazon is expanding the scope of its same-day delivery service with a focus on essential items like toilet paper and laundry detergent in a further challenge to traditional supermarket chains.
Amazon already offers free same-day delivery of selected goods in more than 80 towns and cities across the UK to Prime members when orders worth £20 or more are placed.

At the company’s Delivering The Future event in Dortmund on Wednesday, Amazon announced it would be bringing same-day delivery services to 20 additional locations around Europe in the next 12 months and also expanding a new ‘fast delivery’ model operating in Madrid in which customers in select postcodes can order products as late as 6.15pm and still receive them the same evening.

The Madrid model will be rolled out to an area of London this month and to parts of Munich, Berlin and Milan later this year.

Rocco Braeuniger, Vice President for Amazon’s stores in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and EU Expansion Countries, told the Dortmund event: “One category we know shoppers shop regularly for is everyday essentials – toilet paper, pet food or laundry detergent.

"Many use our ‘Subscribe and Save’ feature to replenish these items, thus removing the hassle of reordering and receiving additional savings,

"But we also know many customers need everyday essential items fast, often on the same day. In Q1 this year, we delivered over 20 million essentials with same-day delivery across Europe. That’s an increase of over 80 per cent on Q1 from last year.

"Fast delivery must be done safely, sustainably and at scale. We can deliver faster because we have invested in advanced technology including AI and machine learning across our operations."

Amazon already has a partnership with Bradford-headquartered Morrisons offering same-day delivery of the supermarket’s groceries, with similar arrangements in place with Iceland and Co-op. Amazon itself has 19 of its own Amazon Fresh physical convenience stores in the London area but has closed several further branches in recent years.

Speaking to reporters after his announcement, Mr Braeuniger said the expansion of same-day delivery services could ultimately change how people plan their shopping.

"For me success is making the customer love the service and the service keeps growing organically,” he said.

"They don’t think on Monday, ‘What will I need on Wednesday?’, they think on Wednesday, ‘What do I need today?’

"You can really change [how] customers shop and we have done this already throughout the course of Amazon.

"We are really well set up, there is a lot of experimentation going on. I’m really confident there will be a great focus on the way we think about shopping.

"We are investing in giving customers a choice.”

A recent House of Commons research briefing noted online sales make up more than 25 per cent of retail sales in the UK – well above the rates recorded in Europe and the US.