Amazon has officially rolled out its first Amazon Now fulfillment center in the Southwark district of London, offering fresh groceries and everyday essentials delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. The service, which Elisa Michelin Salomon—Amazon’s EU quick commerce operations lead—first conceptualized in Bangalore in May 2025 after studying Indian and UAE models, represents the company’s inaugural ultra-fast offering in the U.K. This launch follows pilot programs in Seattle and Philadelphia and signals Amazon’s commitment to accelerating its last-mile network in key urban markets.

In late 2025, Amazon expanded its 30-minute grocery and essentials delivery tests to Seattle and Philadelphia, deploying specialized micro-fulfillment facilities placed closer to dense residential and commercial zones. These sites prioritize worker safety by shortening picker routes, reduce delivery partner travel distances and aim to cut operational costs. The Seattle facility, for example, sources pickers, packers and delivery drivers within a two-mile radius, enabling same-day throughput targets of up to 5,000 orders per week.

To drive down costs and improve per-item margins, Amazon is investing heavily in automation. Internal documents reveal plans to replace approximately 600,000 roles with robotics by 2027, projecting a cost reduction of $0.30 per item handled. As of January 2026, Amazon has deployed its one-millionth warehouse robot and integrated a proprietary AI foundation model to optimize warehouse routing and predictive stocking across its North American network.

Complementing its digital prowess, Amazon recently unveiled plans for a 229,000-square-foot megastore in Chicago that fuses supermarket inventory, general merchandise and experiential showroom elements under one roof. This marks Amazon’s largest physical retail investment to date, intended to serve both as a high-touch shopping destination and as a cross-dock fulfillment hub for same-day delivery orders. Executives anticipate that the Chicago pilot, set to open in early 2026, will inform future urban store designs and integrate real-time customer data to refine e-commerce algorithms.