Amazon Australia now offers pantry food and drinks

Amazon Australia has started stocking up on pantry items. The online retailer launched a new online store on Tuesday, putting it in direct competition with supermarkets Coles and Woolworths in the country.

The Australian site of the e-commerce giant is now offering food and beverages under its Pantry Food and Drinks page. The products include familiar Aussie names, including Mount Franklin water, TimTam, MasterFoods, Coca-Cola, Doritos, Oreo, M&Ms and Nestle.

It doesn’t stock up on fresh items yet, such as fresh produce and meats, but Coles and Woolworths still have one more rival to think about.

“Since the launch of amazon.com.au in December of last year, we have been focused on growing selection and services for Australian customers,” Amazon Australia country manager Rocco Braeuniger said. “Today we are delighted to add to the over 80 million products already available on the store with the launch of Pantry Food and Drinks, bringing greater convenience to customers, underscored by everyday brilliant value and fast delivery.”

The selection on Amazon isn’t anything grand yet at just over 10,000 items, but as it’s only its first day, it is expected to add more products in the future. As the Motley Fool notes, Woolworths and Coles still have the upper hand, but that’s not going to be the case always.

“But this Amazon pantry division is only going to get bigger over time which could be a problem. It would only take 1 percent of supermarket sales for Amazon to make an impact on our local market operators,” the site said.

Amazon Australia officially launched in December after a test launch a few weeks before. It did not exactly live up to expectations, with many commenting it was underwhelming as it was nothing like the US site, which offered a lot more product at much cheaper prices. Nevertheless, the site has been slowly expanding, offering more products and even launching Prime in June.