Amazon is ending its direct grocery delivery service in five UK cities.
The e-commerce giant has told customers it will be bringing to an end its online Amazon Fresh offering in Glasgow, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle at the beginning of June.
Amazon launched the online Fresh service in 2016, initially in central and east London. The company had been steadily expanding across the UK since, overhauling several depots to fulfil more fresh produce orders.
“We’re always evaluating our offerings and operations network,” a spokesman said, adding the focus was now on perishable grocery delivery offerings with its partner supermarkets.
In all of the cities where Amazon Fresh has ceased operations, customers can still shop with either Morrisons, Co-op, and Iceland or a combination, depending on the area. Those supermarkets use Amazon.co.uk as a storefront, with the goods ordered fulfilled from stores and delivered by the supermarket.
Amazon’s relationship with Morrisons goes back to 2016, when a wholesale supply deal was struck which saw the supermarket supply fresh and frozen groceries to customers, on what was then known as Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry. By 2019 the partnership had evolved, with Morrisons becoming a retailer on the Amazon marketplace, and the following year a dedicated Morrisons online storefront was unveiled.
Co-op made 10,000 SKUs available to buy on Amazon in 2021, giving Prime members the ability to do “their full Co-op grocery shop” on the site. Iceland followed with a similar arrangement last year.
According to a report by The Telegraph late last year, talks between Amazon and Waitrose were “ongoing” concerning an alike deal, as the supermarket looked to widen its customer reach and market share.
“Customers in those locations can shop through Amazon for groceries from those brands as well as continue to shop a wide selection of everyday essentials and non-perishable food items through Amazon.co.uk for same and next-day delivery,” Amazon’s spokesman said.
“Amazon Fresh online delivery and physical stores will continue to serve customers in many other parts of the country including London and parts of the south east, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.”
Amazon grocery customers were informed of the decision earlier this week. “We appreciate this may be a change to your usual grocery shopping, thanks for continuing to shop with us,” the company told them in an email.
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