Grocery is one of Amazon's fastest-growing categories and it offers something most other categories do not — repeat purchases. Customers who buy food and drink products tend to reorder regularly, which creates a more predictable revenue stream than one-off product purchases. However, selling food on Amazon comes with additional requirements that you must get right.
Category Approval
Grocery is a gated category on Amazon UK. You will need to submit invoices from food-grade suppliers and may need to demonstrate that you are handling and storing products appropriately. Amazon takes food safety seriously because the consequences of selling unsafe food products are severe — both for customers and for Amazon's reputation.
Expiry Date Requirements
All food products must have clearly visible expiry dates (best before or use by dates). Amazon requires that food products sent to FBA have a remaining shelf life of at least 90 days at the time of check-in. Products with less than 90 days remaining will be rejected. Products approaching their expiry date in Amazon's warehouse will be marked as unsellable and you will need to create a removal order.
This means you need to manage your supply chain carefully. Do not send in large quantities of products with short shelf lives. Match your inbound quantities to your expected sales velocity so products sell before they approach expiry.
Labelling and Packaging
Food products must comply with UK food labelling regulations — ingredients lists, allergen information, nutritional information, and weight or volume must all be present and accurate. If you are reselling branded products from UK retailers, this labelling should already be in place. If you are importing or creating your own food products, you need to ensure full compliance with Food Standards Agency regulations.
Packaging must protect the product during shipping and storage. Fragile items like glass jars need extra protection. Products that could melt, leak, or be damaged by temperature changes need appropriate consideration — Amazon's fulfilment centres are not temperature-controlled, so temperature-sensitive food products may not be suitable for FBA during summer months.
Is Grocery Worth the Effort?
The higher barriers to entry in Grocery mean less competition than open categories. The repeat purchase nature of food products can build reliable recurring revenue. And the category is enormous — there is room for sellers at every scale. If you can navigate the compliance requirements and manage shelf life effectively, Grocery can be a very rewarding category to sell in.