Amazon Restaurants takes a bite out of food delivery market（497 words）

By Madhumita Murgia

Amazon will expand into the crowded UK food delivery space with the launch of a restaurant takeaway service in London that will take on established rivals such as Deliveroo and UberEats.

The new food service — called Amazon Restaurants — will offer one-hour restaurant deliveries for paying customers of its Prime service in parts of the capital.

Amazon has promised free delivery on orders of £15 or more, with 180 restaurants having signed up ranging from the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Benares to high street pizza chain Strada.

The arrival of Amazon will mean further competition for existing takeaway groups such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, which are already facing a new threat from the arrival in the UK of UberEats, a food delivery offshoot of the US car ride company that launched in the summer.

In the past five years, the western European market for takeaway and delivery grew 2.2 per cent to £18.4bn on the back of the success of such start-ups, while restaurant-bought food revenues fell 7.6 per cent to £135.3bn, according to analyst Euromonitor.

Although eclipsed by Amazon and Uber in size, the three-year-old Deliveroo operates in 12 countries through 2,500 restaurants and is valued, by some estimates, at more than $1bn.

However, Amazon's vast logistics network and scale puts it in a very strong position to challenge its position, according to analysts.

“Amazon can reduce the cost per delivery by bundling deliveries from multiple restaurants to similar locations and improve service by accelerating delivery time,” said Neil Campling, analyst at Northern Trust Capital Markets.

“Amazon, like Uber, cares about land grab and quick scale, not quick economic returns.” The food delivery offer is an extension of grocery delivery service Amazon Fresh, which launched in London this summer. The UK is the first market outside the US for Amazon's restaurant service, which was first launched in Seattle in 2015 and has expanded into 15 US cities.

Al Wilkinson, UK head of Amazon restaurants, said: “Based on our own research into what is important to consumers in food delivery, our team have handpicked a selection of the best quality local restaurants in London. We're excited to be helping many of these small businesses start offering home delivery for the very first time.”

San Francisco-based Uber, well known for its multinational car-hailing app, is also looking to further expand its takeaway service, which was launched in London with an aggressive marketing campaign in June.

UberEats already operates in 18 cities, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber's Emea operations, says it is “investing heavily to bring UberEats to new cities across Europe”.

The Seattle giant's entry could also squeeze takeaway ordering websites like FTSE 250 company Just Eat and Dutch Takeaway.com, according to analysts. “The risks are rising in our view that Just Eat will have to consider [delivery],” said Mr Campling.

On Tuesday, Takeaway.com, the Dutch challenger to Just Eat, launched its intention to raise €175m through an initial public offering to take on European rivals.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1．How long will Amazon Restaurants need to do food delivery?

A．one half hour

B．in one hour

C．one and half hours

D．in two-hour

答案

2．What is the order's price amount will Amazon do free delivery?

A．£10

B．£15 or more

C．unlimited

D．£25 or more

答案

3．Which is not the competitor with Amazon Restaurants in UK?

A．Deliveroo

B．OrderUp

C．Just Eat

D．UberEats

答案

4．How many countries does Deliveroo operate?

A．10 countries

B．12 countries

C．18 countries

D．25 countries

答案