Amazon offers free grocery delivery in London

Amazon Fresh, the online giant’s grocery service, is now available free of charge to Prime-members in London. The service will be rolled out across the United Kingdom by the end of this year, as the coronavirus creates momentum for online food sales.

Online shopping doubled

Online groceries are on the rise now that coronavirus keeps shoppers away from physical stores: Brits now spend twice as much on online groceries as they did in January of this year. Europe’s most mature e-commerce market now spends 390 million pounds (430 million euros) a week on online groceries, CNN reports.

Amazon wants a bigger piece of that cake: in London and some regions in the southeast of England, the Amazon Fresh shopping service becomes free of charge for all Prime members. Previously, the service charged cost four pounds for deliveries within two hours. The minimum order threshold has also been lowered to 15 pounds. Delivery within the hour is also possible, but that still costs four pounds.

Amazon claims to be able to deliver everything from household products to snacks and seafood. Premium products from subsidiary Whole Foods are also available, as well as products from an artisan bakery, cheesery and butcher in London. Amazon Fresh plans to roll out to the rest of the UK before the end of 2020.