Amazon’s much heralded foray into Britain’s online grocery market has already hit a slight glitch – it is refusing to deliver to customers just a couple of hundred metres from its main warehouse because they are in the wrong postcode.
Delivery vans leaving Amazon Fresh’s huge warehouse in Bow, east London, are being ordered not to turn right at the first roundabout they come to because that would take them into a postcode not covered by the new service.
Instead, the drivers will turn left for the main A12 trunk road and head into areas apparently more accessible for the business.
Amazon Fresh launched today in 69 postcodes across central and east London in an experiment the company hopes will see it take on established giants such as Tesco in the field of fresh and frozen produce.
It will operate from the same warehouse in Bow that currently delivers millions of other goods every year.
It is located in a business park by the River Lea in the E3 postcode and close to the boundary of
E16, a district that includes the likes of East Ham, the Royal Docks area of Canning Town.
Also nearby is the E15 postcode, which is covered. It means that customers living a couple of minutes’ drive from the warehouse in Godbold Road, E15, are entitled to Amazon Fresh, while their neighbours across the street in Daisy Road, E16, receive the message “Fresh is not available” when they try to order.
An Amazon spokesman declined to comment on why E16 in particular had been omitted.
However, a source at the company said such glitches would always occur when delivery and logistics strategies were based purely on postcodes.
The source said it was “early days” and it was likely the service could expand beyond the chosen 69 postcodes.
Following the tradition of many taxis in London, Amazon Fresh has also decided not to go south of the Thames, with all 69 postcodes north of the river.
Ajay Kavan, vice president of Amazon Fresh said earlier: “We are launching with a comprehensive offer in a limited area and will take our time to hone and improve our service based on our learnings and feedback from our customers.
“We will be very methodical and considered in how we roll this service out further in the UK.”
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