Co-op to start selling groceries on Amazon Prime
Here is the marketplace news that captured our attention this week.
Co-op to start selling groceries on Amazon Prime
The Co-op has announced a partnership with Amazon Prime, enabling customers across the UK to do their whole grocery shop online with same-day delivery.
The supermarket chain is also extending its robot deliveries, so it can push online sales up from £70m to £200m.
The partnership launched in Glasgow and surrounding areas on Thursday and will be rolled out to other parts of the country before the end of the year.
Amazon Prime customers will be able to do their shopping on the Amazon UK website.
Same-day delivery with two-hour scheduled slots is offered for free on all orders over £40. The minimum value for an order is £15 and a £3.99 delivery charge applies to all orders below £40.
Two towns in England - Milton Keynes and Northampton - are already receiving Co-op grocery deliveries from autonomous robot vehicles made by Starship Technologies, a firm set up by the founders of Skype.
The supermarket chain plans to increase the number of robots operating and delivering Co-op groceries from 200 to 500 by the end of this year, extending them from Milton Keynes and Northampton to Cambridgeshire and then into northern England.
Tambo's View:
The pandemic has accelerated changes in consumer shopping trends and the Co-op is driving forward with plans to provide rapid kerb-to-kitchen grocery delivery services and in doing so, is keeping up with its competitors who are now offering similar services. Demand for this type of fast, no-hassle service will only increase in line with the ability for consumers to order products easily, with one-click, directly from social media or through QR codes.
Amazon wins Retail Week’s Consumer Choice Award 2021
Amazon have been named as the winner of the Consumer Choice Award for the fourth consecutive year at the Retail Week Awards 2021.
For 26 years, the Retail Week Awards have celebrated the creativity, innovation and excellence of the UK retail industry. The awards celebrate a variety of individuals, from boardroom leaders and digital stars, to store managers.
Customer obsession is one of four core principles that guide Amazon in delivering on their mission. According to Amazon, it means that they always start with the customer and work backwards whenever they are innovating and building on their behalf.
Customer obsession is also the first of Amazon’s Leadership Principles, which define their inclusive, meritocratic working culture. They use their Leadership Principles every day, whether discussing ideas for new projects or solving problems. In that way, customer obsession drives their ambition to constantly improve on customer experience.
This year Amazon has ranked number one in Opinium’s Most Connected Brands Index for the fourth consecutive year, and they have previously been awarded ‘Best Online Retailer’ of 2019 at the TechRadar Mobile Choice Consumer Awards.
Amazon were also named the UK’s most popular employer by both LinkedIn and Glassdoor in 2019, underlining their belief that employee satisfaction has a direct impact on customer experience.
Amazon say that they are proud that dedication to their loyal and dedicated customer base has been reflected by winning this years Consumer Choice Award.
Tambo's View:
It is not surprising that Amazon has won this year's Retail Week Awards considering their financial growth as well their continued innovation and disruption within the retail sector. This year alone the e-tail powerhouse started the rollout of Fresh grocery stores in the UK, opened a hair salon in London’s Spitalfields, ramped up its partnership with Morrisons and Deliveroo, started stocking Co-op products online, and, most recently, lifted the lid on its first 4-star store outside the US. With all of these developments within just the space of a year we are excited about the prospect of Amazon in 2022 and beyond.
Amazon launches Prime service in Poland
Amazon on Tuesday launched its Amazon Prime service offering free delivery and video streaming in Poland, sending shares in rival Polish e-commerce platform Allegro lower.
Amazon's Polish site went live in March, significantly intensifying competition in Poland's booming e-commerce sector.
Amazon said it is pricing its Prime service at 49 zlotys ($12.35) per year.
Polish customers can shop from anywhere, any time with no-hassle returns and Polish customer service through the Amazon Shopping app and desktop and mobile browsers. Customers can easily browse the growing selection, read customer reviews, view personalised recommendations, create wish lists and track their orders. Customers can pay with Amex, Visa, Mastercard, Przelewy24 and BLIK.
Amazon is offering a wide variety of products from local Polish brands, as well as big brand favorites. Customers can find great prices on products offered by Polish brands like Zelmer, Gerlach, Trefl, Bambino, Krosno, as well as international brands like ASUS, Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO and Bosch.
Shares in Allegro, whose Smart! service also costs 49 zlotys per year and offers free delivery on orders of more than 40 zlotys, were down 3.7% at 0805 GMT.
mBank analyst Pawel Szpigiel said Amazon's announcement was as a surprise, coming just a few months after the company's launch in Poland.
"It... seems that Amazon's appetite for the Polish market is big," he said.
Allegro has not immediately responded to a requests for comments by journalists.
Tambo’s View:
Although present in Poland since 2014, Amazon only launched its Polish website Amazon.pl in March, signalling the US tech giant’s growing interest in this market. More Polish customers will now become part of the Amazon eco-system and we predict that Amazon will grow in this market as it did in Australia by 1500% from 2017-2018 after the introduction of Prime.
