Asda has a long way to go if it is to challenge Tesco’s dominance of online grocery, according to The Grocer’s latest online shopping survey.
The number two retailer is currently investing heavily in its online offer in a bid to double its coverage to 60% of the UK by the end of the year. This is still a long way behind Tesco’s 96% coverage but will put it in a better position to compete.
However, the results of The
Grocer’s quarterly online survey show that Asda is still lagging a long way behind Tesco when it comes to achieving satisfaction.
This week Tesco delivered a hassle-free shopping experience from the moment our shopper logged on to when all 33 items were delivered exactly as he had requested.
However, the same could not be said for our London-based Asda shopper, who received only 29 of the items requested. There were four out-of-stock products, two of which were swapped with reasonable substitutions, although two had no replacement at all.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s recovery in its stores appears to be being replicated online. Our online shopper in Somerset received 32 of the items that she ordered without the need for substitutions. Only celery was out of stock. This is a huge improvement on the six out of stocks recorded in The Grocer’s last online probe at Easter.
Last month Ocado picked up The Grocer Gold award for online retailer of the year, but this week failed to live up to this title. It was out of stock on a 2.5kg bag of potatoes and could not provide an alternative.
It also charged our shopper for semi-skimmed milk but did not deliver it.
Waitrosedeliver.com did not live up to the expectations of our shopper either. Several items were closer to the best-before date than he would have bought had he been in a store.
>>p22 The Grocer 33 Online
Ronan Hegarty

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