Germany’s DHL delivery service is ending its partnership with Amazon Fresh, due to the disappointing food e-commerce market, Reuters has reported.
Despite Germany being Amazon’s second biggest market outside of the United States, its Fresh service, which launched there in 2017, has grown much slower than the rest of the business.
A spokesperson for DHL told Germany’s Lebensmittel Zeitung trade publication that it was ending its cooperation with Amazon Fresh, and that the rest of its business with Amazon was unaffected.
“The market for online ordered fresh food has been far behind expectations to date. Due to this reason and the complexity of the whole process, we have significantly reduced our activities in this area,” she said.
According to Reuters, online food sales of food have been slower in Germany than many developed markets, partly due to the high density of discount stores like Aldi and Lidl.
In 2018, e-commerce made up only about 1.2 per cent of food sales in Germany, according to the HDE retail association.
Amazon Fresh customers in Germany are unlikely to be affected as the retail giant expands its own delivery network.
Earlier this month, FedEx Corp announced it would end its contract with Amazon as the online retailer becomes more competitive in the delivery space with its own network of planes, trucks and vans.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the news, beyond saying that its Fresh service had received positive feedback in Germany.
