Anne Bruce Tesco.com customers will soon be able to spend Clubcard vouchers online in a new focus on quality, according to CEO John Browett. Trials of a modified web site are already under way in house, allowing staff to redeem Clubcard loyalty vouchers as they shop. Browett said: "Customers are already able to collect points online, and will soon be able to opt into the Clubcard voucher redemption system. We want to bring the online experience closer to that of shopping in store, and persuade more people to use it." Tesco.com now has 96.5% coverage of the UK but, with a million homes on its delivery database, has still only reached 4% of the population. The drive for customer quantity revolves around improving quality, and availability of stock online and timings of deliveries, according to Browett. He said: "There has been a big improvement in timing deliveries recently, service levels are acceptable, availability is a lot higher than some public speculation suggests, but we need to make Tesco.com almost perfect." Tesco will then experiment with a store pick-up model for online shopping, when service levels on the current system have been ramped up. Browett said: "There are things we need to improve today, before we can move on to store pick up and delivery, which we estimate will only ever account for 10% of online sales." Browett defended trials of peak and off-peak delivery charges in Hertfordshire and Essex by Tesco.com (The Grocer, April 27, p10). He said: "Our customers told us they would be willing to pay more to ensure they could have a delivery on a Friday evening. We will review trials after a few weeks, and if we decide the system works we will roll it out." Peak deliveries cost £6.49, off peak £3.99 and standard deliveries £5. {{NEWS }}

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