The online shopping giant Amazon has entered the grocery delivery business in the UK. Its new service is called Amazon Pantry. A traditional pantry is a small room or cupboard in a house where people put food, plates and cutlery. Amazon's new product will provide customers with a next-day delivery service of groceries. It will mean there will be a lot of competition for the UK's traditional supermarkets. Amazon Pantry customers will be able to select from more than 4,000 goods ranging from food and drinks to health and beauty products. Customers will not be able to buy fresh fruit and vegetables yet. A new service for this called Amazon Fresh is in the planning stage and will be available later.
UK shoppers may not be all rushing to use Amazon's new grocery delivery service. There is a charge. All customers must already be members of Amazon's express delivery service Amazon Prime, which costs $120 a year. They will also have to pay a delivery charge of $4.50 for the first 20kg of shopping. Amazon Pantry spokeswoman Helene Parthenay said she thought people would like the convenience of the service. She said it would, "take the heavy lifting out of replenishing the basics and store cupboard essentials that people need every day." She added: "We are always looking to innovate on behalf of our customers and find ways to save them time and money."