An explosion in smartphone shopping could prove key to Amazon cracking the grocery market, according to mobile intelligence company MicroStrategy.

The rise in consumer use of smartphones and tablets was good news for Amazon because of the synergy with its “natural demographic”, senior VP Dan Kerzner told The Grocer at the MicroStrategy World convention in Amsterdam this week.

“Anything that drives customers towards mobile technology is a positive for Amazon as far as its potential for grocery is concerned,” he said. “It has a strong distribution network and is always investing in infrastructure. It has plenty of options as it looks to attack grocery.”

Amazon launched a 22,000-strong grocery range two years ago and has steadily increased its offer since. By last week it had boosted its offer to 129,000 lines. It is also pushing a ‘subscribe & save’ promotion, which offers regular customers discounts of 10% if they bulk buy. This month it is offering savings of more than 20% on some products - and it has increased the number of discounted groceries from 2,000 in October to almost 10,000.

“It makes sense you would see its grocery range expand in the UK,” said Kerzner. “Amazon has always focused on customer experience, and for them that means a wide range of products.”

Amazon was well-placed to take advantage of the UK grocery market, because UK shoppers lead the world in online shopping, he added. However, it would not have it all its own way, as at least one established name in UK grocery was also set to capitalise on the mobile boom.

”Tesco does amazing things with our MicroStrategy software,” he said. “They are one of the most innovative customers we have.”

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