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Amazon's reportedly bringing its grocery delivery service to the UK

Amazon's made a name for itself as the online store that sells practically everything, but it's certainly not a site you visit for your weekly shop. That might change in near future, however, as according to The Times, Amazon is gearing up to launch its AmazonFresh grocery-delivery service in the UK. Amazon introduced the same-day delivery service for household essentials in the US last year, and its now thought it could premiere in London -- where Amazon launched one-hour Prime deliveries last month -- as early as September. AmazonFresh would effectively be competing with the likes of Ocado and the delivery options of several bricks-and-mortar supermarkets, but it's not quite that simple, and we doubt it'll have existing players quaking in their boots.

You see, in the US AmazonFresh is positioned as a premium service, and you can't even begin to load up your virtual basket with bread and milk without a "Prime Fresh" subscription that costs $299 per year (roughly £192). That's a hefty mark-up on the standard $99 Prime subscription, and even then, you still have to pay a delivery fee if your basket doesn't meet the $50 free delivery threshold. Chances are Amazon will introduce a similarly pricey Fresh subscription in the UK, which will undoubtedly put a lot of potential customers off the service. It could become more attractive in time, however, if Amazon brings its Dash shopping-assistant gadget and quick-order buttons over here, though these are still only being piloted in the US for now. Naturally, we reached out to Amazon to confirm the launch of Fresh in the UK, but all it had to say was: "We do not comment on rumour or speculation."

[Image credit: adpowers/Flickr]