In a closely fought competition, Ocado has emerged triumphant as The Grocer Gold Awards’ first Online Retailer of the Year.
The award is based on The Grocer’s quarterly barometer, The Grocer 33 Online, as well as a judging panel.
Each quarter, mystery shoppers across the country order a basket of 33 goods from five online retailers: Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose. They record how easy it is to place the order, the delivery process, the number of substitutions, out-of-stocks and missing items, the price, and overall customer service. Based on these factors, a star performer is chosen each quarter.
The retailers were asked to submit further evidence as to how they had improved their business over the past year and why they felt they should win the accolade. A team of judges considered this evidence on top of the survey results to decide on the best online retailer.
Ocado has achieved three star performer accolades in The Grocer 33 Online quarterly barometer since it was introduced in October 2003, with Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose enjoying one each. It is consistently praised for its customer service, friendly delivery, personnel and ease of ordering.
Claiming to be second in turnover to Tesco.com, the company says it has grown 100% in the past year and claims to be the fastest-growing retailer in the UK. It achieves less than one substituted item in every fifth customer order and one not-present item in every 11th customer order. Indeed, in The Grocer’s barometer, Ocado was a close second to Sainsbury for number of items delivered since October 2003, with a total of 225 items out of a possible 231.
Ocado introduced one-hour delivery slots and 87% of orders include free delivery. Some 64% of sales come from customers who have shopped more than 10 times.
One judge praised Ocado for its “quality and reliability of service as well as its rapid growth, based on a unique model”. Another agreed it had an outstanding service and availability record, although noted that it was “only just on break-even, while Tesco is making reasonable margins of 5%”.
Tesco was a close second in this category, with an impressive 150,000 deliveries each week and sales this year up 24% to £719m and profit increasing 52% to £36m. Tesco is the world’s largest online grocery retailer and reaches 97% of the UK population.
According to the company, the most recent version of its web site has almost halved first-time shopper time to 40 minutes and the site is now tailored to suit different regions and customer types. In The Grocer 33 Online survey, Tesco achieved 226 out of a possible 231 items delivered.
Third-placed Sainsbury says its online service is important for customers and that, while expansion has been put on hold to improve service, availability was up 4.5% in the past year. The Grocer 33 Online barometer found that Sainsbury was the best for number of items delivered in our quarterly survey since October 2003, with a total of 226 items out of a possible 231.
The award is based on The Grocer’s quarterly barometer, The Grocer 33 Online, as well as a judging panel.
Each quarter, mystery shoppers across the country order a basket of 33 goods from five online retailers: Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose. They record how easy it is to place the order, the delivery process, the number of substitutions, out-of-stocks and missing items, the price, and overall customer service. Based on these factors, a star performer is chosen each quarter.
The retailers were asked to submit further evidence as to how they had improved their business over the past year and why they felt they should win the accolade. A team of judges considered this evidence on top of the survey results to decide on the best online retailer.
Ocado has achieved three star performer accolades in The Grocer 33 Online quarterly barometer since it was introduced in October 2003, with Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose enjoying one each. It is consistently praised for its customer service, friendly delivery, personnel and ease of ordering.
Claiming to be second in turnover to Tesco.com, the company says it has grown 100% in the past year and claims to be the fastest-growing retailer in the UK. It achieves less than one substituted item in every fifth customer order and one not-present item in every 11th customer order. Indeed, in The Grocer’s barometer, Ocado was a close second to Sainsbury for number of items delivered since October 2003, with a total of 225 items out of a possible 231.
Ocado introduced one-hour delivery slots and 87% of orders include free delivery. Some 64% of sales come from customers who have shopped more than 10 times.
One judge praised Ocado for its “quality and reliability of service as well as its rapid growth, based on a unique model”. Another agreed it had an outstanding service and availability record, although noted that it was “only just on break-even, while Tesco is making reasonable margins of 5%”.
Tesco was a close second in this category, with an impressive 150,000 deliveries each week and sales this year up 24% to £719m and profit increasing 52% to £36m. Tesco is the world’s largest online grocery retailer and reaches 97% of the UK population.
According to the company, the most recent version of its web site has almost halved first-time shopper time to 40 minutes and the site is now tailored to suit different regions and customer types. In The Grocer 33 Online survey, Tesco achieved 226 out of a possible 231 items delivered.
Third-placed Sainsbury says its online service is important for customers and that, while expansion has been put on hold to improve service, availability was up 4.5% in the past year. The Grocer 33 Online barometer found that Sainsbury was the best for number of items delivered in our quarterly survey since October 2003, with a total of 226 items out of a possible 231.
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