Morrisons primed to deliver in an hour with Amazon

Morrisons has deepened ties with Amazon and boosted its presence in the South-East by unveiling a one-hour grocery delivery offer through the retail giant available in London.

Members of Amazon’s £79-a-year Prime service can now order a full Morrisons shop through the Prime Now app. A one-hour delivery costs £6.99, but two hours is free.

The launch in selected postcodes in the capital and Hertfordshire adds to Morrisons’ existing partnership with Amazon, which already stocks thousands of Morrisons products. Amazon Fresh was launched in the UK earlier this year.

The expansion, described by Morrisons as “capital light”, also gives the grocer greater exposure to London shoppers, something it lost when boss David Potts, brought in last year to revive flagging sales, sold off its ill-fated convenience arm M Local.

Morrisons expects wholesaling through Amazon will boost profits by between £50 million and £100 million.

Online supermarket Ocado, which runs Morrisons’ own online operations and is headquartered in Hertfordshire, saw shares tumble 17.1p, or more than 6%, to 265.1p, and Morrisons was up 3p at 224.9p.