Amazon is launching its online grocery store programme, Amazon Pantry, across the UK as of today. This has been rolled out across many parts of the US and some parts of Europe, and now UK Amazon Prime members can make orders for groceries.

Shoppers will have a choice of 4,000 ‘every day essentials in everyday sizes’ that include food and drink, household supplies, pet, health and beauty and pet supplies. Thousands more items will be added to the inventory in the coming weeks.

The chief limit will be weight. Customers will be charged £2.99 for a 20kg ‘box’ and 99p per subsequent box thereafter. One can have whatever one wants within the 20kg limit, with items being attributed a weight and the box weight being adjusted according to the order in the checkout. Where the box is full, so a new one for 99p will be made, and this can be filled too.

Amazon Pantry goods will be delivered the next day as per most Amazon Prime orders. Amazon Prime Now, the same day delivery service is in the process of national roll out, where for £4.99 a customer can have their goods delivered in a two hour time slot. When this launches UK wide, Pantry customers will be able to have frozen and chilled goods delivered on the same day with no risk of spoiling on the way. Until Prime Now launches, Pantry goods will be goods that do not require temperature control.

Amazon has had a ‘Grocery Store’ for some time but this was limited, with some purchases requiring larger purchases than a household may require, for example 20 tins of a luxury cat food of the same flavour where a fussy cat would refuse the same tin every day. The Pantry programme enables smaller quantities of goods to be purchased in the same way as one would from a grocery store.