Britain’s fourth largest supermarket said the deal would allow Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry customers access to Morrisons ambient, fresh and frozen products in the coming months.
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In coming months, “hundreds of Morrisons products” will be available to customers of Amazon’s one-hour Prime delivery and Pantry services, the grocer said.
David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “The combination of our fresh food expertise with Amazon’s online and logistics capabilities is compelling”.
Morrison shares rose as much as 6.8 per cent in London and were up 4.8 per cent at 196.3 pence as of 8:52 am Ocado slid 6.7 per cent to 263.4 pence, Tesco declined 3.3 per cent, while Sainsbury eased 0.8 per cent. However, that will be eclipsed by the boost this deal will give Amazon’s designs on the United Kingdom grocery market.
The deal does not affect Morrisons 25-year agreement with Ocado through which the companies run the supermarket group’s online delivery service.
‘Having made significant advances already, helped by Ocado (from nothing to an anecdotally solid and ever improving online service) the tie-up with Amazon has potential to narrow even further what is a significant gap with United Kingdom incumbent rivals’.
Morrisons will provide a wholesale supply service to Amazon under the new agreement, which the retailer said is part of its strategy to make its business stronger.
Amazon Pantry delivers groceries and household products to subscribers for a fee of £2.99 per box.
Off the back of the announcement this morning (29 Febraury), Morrisons’ share price rocketed 5 per cent to 197p, making it the biggest rise on the stock market.
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Morrisons and Ocado first entered into an online grocery deal in 2013, with Morrisons sharing capacity at Ocado’s centre at Dordon in North Warwickshire.
