Amazon has launched free grocery deliveries for its Prime members in a move that could land a major blow to its supermarket rivals. 

The US etail titan has started offering free home deliveries on all Amazon Fresh orders over £40 for customers who agree to receive their groceries within a two-hour window.

Shoppers who want to specify a one-hour time slot will be charged £3.99.

All orders under £40 will also be charged a £3.99 delivery fee for two-hour delivery and £6.99 for a one-hour slot.

Until now, Amazon has charged its Fresh customers a monthly add-on fee of £3.99, or a £2.99 fee per delivery, in addition to the £79 annual fee for a Prime subscription. 

Those will now be scrapped as Amazon turns up the heat on its traditional supermarket rivals. 

Amazon is also rolling out its grocery home delivery service to cover more areas of the UK. 

Amazon Fresh is currently available in 300 postcodes in London and the South East, but many of its 15 million Prime members are unable to access the service. 

Customers in major cities including Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh look set to be among the first to benefit from the wider rollout before the end of the year.  

Amazon’s strategic offensive in food comes at a time when the online grocery market is experiencing rapid growth amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The market is forecast to grow 76% by the end of this year to £19.5bn.  

Amazon Fresh country manager in the UK Russell Jones said: “Prime members love the convenience of grocery delivery at home, which is why we’ve made Amazon Fresh a free benefit of Prime.

“Grocery delivery is one of the fastest-growing businesses at Amazon … We will keep improving the grocery shopping experience so by the end of the year millions of Prime members across the UK will have access to fast, free delivery of groceries.” 

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