Despite many customers’ perceptions that tech companies like to beta test their new products and services as initial releases, Amazon has been cautious with its restaurant delivery program. However, now that several U.S. cities have been taken under the Prime Now umbrella, is it time for some transatlantic countries to get in on the fun?
That’s the report from Reuters. Customers throughout the U.K. have been receiving surveys from Amazon collecting information on consumers’ food budgets, the frequency with which they order out as opposed to cooking at home, how much they spend per order and what they usually prefer to eat. In what is probably the biggest tell that Amazon has its eyes set on the U.K. for restaurant delivery, the surveys asked pointed questions about customers’ use of door-to-door delivery services, like Just Eat, Hungry House and Deliveroo, as well as specific areas where customers felt the quality of service from these companies was lacking.
Neil Campling, senior analyst at Aviate Global, said that the surveys follow a careful plan of attack for international expansion that Amazon may have laid out years ago. Now, the world is just seeing it follow through.
“These stealth tactics have been used carefully in the United States to do similar and launch successfully, and the U.K. is often used as the first international market,” Campling told Reuters.
If the surveys do indicate the imminent arrival of Prime Now restaurant delivery in the British Isles, Amazon declined to comment on what cities might see the service first. While London might seem like the obvious choice, it’s worth noting that Amazon didn’t go straight for Los Angeles or New York when it first started U.S. restaurant deliveries. The much smaller Seattle and Portland served as test sites, where Amazon could deal with the kinks in the programs, and it might make sense to follow a similar strategy in the U.K.
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