New Amazon grocery service tested by Which?Eight separate deliveries for Amazon groceries
30 August 2010
The new online grocery ordering service from Amazon had expensive postal charges and proved far from convenient, when Which? tried it out.
Which? ordered a regular grocery shop for £74, but then had to pay £60 postal charges.
The high charges are because only some items could be ordered direct from Amazon, using its free delivery option. A number of regular groceries could only be ordered via third-party sellers under Amazon Marketplace.
Separate deliveries from Amazon Marketplace sellers
Deliveries also proved a problem - the order arrived in eight separate packages spanning a week! One large parcel only contained a packet of shrink wrap bacon.
Unlike online supermarkets, you can't select delivery slots with the Amazon grocery service, so our tester, Which? member Rachel Hutchings, missed two parcels, one including a pack of meat. Both were sent back to a post sorting office.
Rachel said: ‘Amazon Grocery is not user-friendly for the usual home-shopper and I couldn’t see any benefits whatsoever.'
Take a look at our review of online supermarkets to find out how Which? members rated Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose for the quality of food and delivery service when ordering your regular shop online.
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