Robo shop: Tesco makes first robot delivery in UK trial

Tesco has completed its first robot delivery as part of a UK trial.

The supermarket giant said it learned "a great deal" from the one-off experiment in London, part of its wider Tesco Now one-hour delivery trial.

The trial was in partnership with Starship Technologies, a London-headquartered firm which builds robots to "revolutionise" local delivery.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: "We are always looking at new ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers.

"We carried out a one-off trial as part of our Tesco Now initiative in partnership with a technology company.

"We learnt a great deal from this trial and we'll be reviewing feedback before deciding our next steps."

Tesco is currently trialling a one-hour grocery delivery service with a small number of colleagues and customers in London zone one and parts of zone two.

It said it was reviewing feedback from the trial before deciding on next steps for the service.

A successful trial could pose a challenge to online retail giant Amazon, which has focused on an increasingly range of ever-faster delivery options for customers.

Amazon launched a one-hour grocery delivery service in London two years ago.

Since its successful trial, Amazon Prime has been rolled out to almost a third of the UK including major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Liverpool, as well as Hertfordshire, South Yorkshire and Surrey.