News just out that sees Amazon Pantry discontinued in the UK as of the 30th of June. Billed a Prime-exclusive service, offering Prime members low-priced everyday essentials, with wide selection members could choose among thousands of items, including food and beverages, alcohol, beauty and personal care items, household products, pet supplies and save a trip to the store. Prime members could add any item labelled with “Amazon Pantry” to a basket and check out when the basket is £15 or more. A flat fee of £3.99 was applied to your order for Standard Amazon Pantry delivery.
Amazon say that “most of your favourite Amazon Pantry bestsellers will soon be available on Amazon.co.uk with faster delivery and no minimum spend, along with the thousands of low-priced everyday products already available”.
Amazon Pantry wasn’t a bad service – personally I used it every month or so to top up on regular shopping and not having to heft a ton of cat food home was welcome. However as soon as the Coronavirus pandemic hit the UK, shoppers were met with empty shelves at Amazon Pantry as supplies instantly ran out – just about every supplier was in the same boat. We counted up the products available in Amazon Pantry in mid April and a quick browse of the site today reveals that the shelves don’t have significantly more selection today then when we did the count. With Amazon Pantry discontinued in five week’s time, we wouldn’t expect the selection you may have been accustomed to in the past be replenished in the mean time.
Seeing Amazon Pantry discontinued doesn’t mean Amazon are out of the food business. They still have Whole Foods stores and Amazon Fresh and Prime Now which will continue to serve customers and, although the browsing experience without Pantry categories won’t be quite as convenient, the same products will still be available on the main Amazon marketplace. However, for me in deepest darkest Berkshire Amazon Fresh and Prime Now aren’t available (yet!) but if you’re in the coverage area you can get essentials delivered often same day including ambient, fresh and frozen produce.
Due to the pandemic, we have seen shoppers switch from convenience shopping to one big weekly or fortnightly shop – queues at supermarkets and reluctance to mix in public any more than is absolutely necessary has meant shoppers visit larger supermarkets with a bigger average spend but much less frequently than in recent years. If you’re doing a humongous monthly shop, the need for Amazon Pantry is that much less and you’re probably less likely to think of Amazon when you want toilet roll then when you’re in Tesco filling your shopping trolley… but if you’re sat on the loo and use the last sheet Prime Now (in areas covered) will be your friend!
The final time for shopping before we see Amazon Pantry discontinued is 11:59PM on Tuesday the 30th of June 2020. You can still place Amazon Pantry orders before that time and your order will be delivered.
