The papers concentrate their coverage of the Amazon and Morrisons one-hour delivery tie-up on the crash in Ocado’s share price the news caused.

Shares in UK online grocer Ocado fell more than 8 per cent on Wednesday, after Amazon said it was rolling out same-day delivery of products from the Wm Morrison supermarket chain, writes The Financial Times (£). “Morrisons-Amazon tie-up hits Ocado”, is the headline in The Times (£), which adds that “analysts said that the deal was a “potential game-changing tie-up” that could give Morrisons the edge over rivals”.

“Morrisons tie-up with Amazon Prime Now sends Ocado shares plunging”, is The Telegraph’s headline, while The Guardian notes “the agreement with Amazon gives Morrisons a headstart [on its partnership with Ocado] on delivering groceries from its stores, potentially boosting sales”.

Ashley Armstrong in The Telegraph writes: “When Morrisons first launched its tie-up with Amazon in February, it was immediately clear there were teething problems. Search for a bunch of bananas and the computer system offered a banana fancy dress costume. Sophisticated this was not. But things have since moved on so rapidly that the Bradford-based supermarket’s agreement with the online giant this time really deserves the “game changer” label.”

The Financial Times (£) suggests Ocado is suffering from first-mover disadvantage. It writes: “The question marks hover over the long term, the fear being that others will learn Ocado’s knack before it has captured a comfortable market share. Ideally, the company would have won business directly from incumbents. But rather than being the first of many grocers to use Ocado, Morrisons was the only one — and has gradually drawn away.”

The Co-operative Group is expanding membership at its fastest rate ever as the group takes steps to rebuild the business after its worst crisis in 20 years. More than 500,000 people have paid £1 to join the mutual in the seven weeks since it introduced a rewards scheme aimed at encouraging members to spend more at its grocery shops and other businesses — swelling its total base to 5.3m. (The Financial Times £)

Meat producer Cranswick has bought Dunbia Ballymena, a pork processor based in Northern Ireland, marking its third acquisition in two years. The acquisition will boost Cranswick’s existing pork business, which sells fresh meat, sausages and other products to food retailers and supermarkets. (The Telegraph)

Booths, the “Waitrose of the North”, has reported a steep loss after its profits were hit by flooding in the Lake District and the fierce price war. The upmarket purveyor of farm-fresh produce, owned by the same family for five generations, said that it had made a pre-tax loss of about £6.5m in the year to March 26 compared with a profit of just over £1m the year before (The Times £). Booths, the so-called “Waitrose of the North”, has tumbled into the red after severe flooding and last year’s Storm Desmond wreaked havoc with its festive sales. (The Telegraph)

Chocolate lovers face smaller bars as ‘shrinkflation’ takes hold, writes The Financial Times (£). Toblerone tweak shows how manufacturers are responding to jump in cocoa butter price.

Brexit looks set to leave a sour taste for the UK’s drinkers after the boss of a top wine maker warned that it would have to put up prices thanks to the plunge in the pound. Neil McGuigan, chief executive of Australian Vintage, said that inflation was inevitable after the slump in sterling following the EU referendum in June. (Sky News)

Black Friday bargain hunters have been warned to do their research after an investigation found many of last year’s deals were cheaper in the months before and after the event. Consumer group Which? found that 49% of last year’s deals that it tracked were not the cheapest on the day. (The BBC)

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