Ocado is 45% more expensive on average than Amazon on the chilled and frozen products the latter began selling in the UK last week, according to analytics firm Profitero.

Amazon is significantly cheaper than its grocer rivals

Amazon was cheaper than all six grocers with an online presence – including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado – suggesting the etail giant is attempting to significantly undercut their prices.

A deeper dive into Profitero’s analysis into the price distribution of UK supermarkets versus Amazon Prime Now, found 75% of Ocado’s products were priced higher than the same products sold on Amazon, while just 20% of products were priced the same (see Figure 2, on right hand side).

However, Amazon is currently only selling 49 products in a limited trial compared to the thousands of products being sold by its rivals. It is believed Amazon is testing its supply chain ahead of a full launch of Amazon Fresh early next year.

Chilled grocery products available on Amazon include Pukka Pies, Chicago Town pizzas, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, orange juice, Kingsmill bread and Birds Eye fish fingers.

Asda was closest in price to Amazon but still 24% more expensive, while Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose were 30%, 33%, 37% and 42% pricier respectively.

Speaking after the launch of Amazon’s one-hour grocery delivery trial in Birmingham last week, Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe underlined the etailer’s limited product offering.

Coupe said: “We have a very significant breadth of offer and that is many, many times greater, probably 100 times greater, than the competitors we are talking about.

“Amazon is trying something that is different, it’s a very limited range of products, so whether or not it gets an uptake from customers, we will see.”