The Boards of Home Retail Group (HRG) and Sainsburys have both given unanimous approval to the £1.4bn acquisition plan put forward by Sainsbury’s last week.

The deal must now go to HRG’s shareholders.

As reported by Apex Insight the deal will significantly shake up the online e-commerce world in the UK, with Sainsbury’s primary focus being the home retail delivery network that has been developed by HRG owned Argos. This will enable the new company to go head to head with online giant Amazon and add another retail giant to the competition online.

Where Amazon is focused toward goods and gadgets but is seeking to take on the online grocery game, Sainsburys has come from the opposite direction with a focus on groceries and an eye on Amazon’s patch.

Amazon has agreed with grocery giant Morrisons to sell its goods through Amazon Pantry, something Morrisons is also doing through Ocado because it has no national grocery delivery infrastructure of its own. There have been rumours swirling around for some time that Amazon may buy Ocado but this is one rumour around Amazon that has yet to materialise in reality.

The Sainsbury’s / HRG deal may well begin a price war for UK online shoppers’ wallets. Though it takes time for such acquisitions to bed down it is very unlikely that the first shots won’t be fired long before anyone has settled in within the new online giant…