Iceland is to trial reducing the online basket spend threshold to qualify for free delivery in response to the cost of living crisis and rising fuel prices.
The retailer is lowering the minimum order value for its next-day delivery service from £40 to £35, and from £25 to £20 for shoppers using its in-store home delivery service.
The lower thresholds will be trialled nationwide for four weeks and “customer feedback will be monitored to ensure the changes have helped shoppers”, the frozen food retailer said.
“The initiative is being introduced to combat the rising cost of living experienced by customers, helping those with lower weekly shopping budgets to access free delivery,” an Iceland spokeswoman said. “In addition, the offer of free delivery will reduce fuel bills associated with grocery shopping as fuel prices continue to increase.”
The lower thresholds are the same as those offered by Iceland at the start of 2021, before they were raised later that year. The move will “open up thousands” of free delivery slots for hard-pressed families, Iceland said.
The frozen food specialist dramatically expanded its online operation during the pandemic, claiming to have boosted peak delivery capacity by 375%.
Iceland said it remained “the only supermarket offering free next-day delivery for online orders”. The only other supermarket offering free delivery of online orders had been Waitrose on baskets over £60, but this policy was dropped in September and replaced with a “fair charge” of £3 per order.
“The entire nation is feeling the pinch at the moment and the cost of living crisis is forcing some families to make difficult decisions in order to make ends meet,” said Iceland MD Richard Walker.
“Our aim is to mitigate this as much as possible for shoppers on significantly reduced grocery shopping budgets by reducing the thresholds of our free delivery services in stores and online, meaning they won’t need to pay for fuel in order to get the groceries they need, or worry about paying delivery charges.”
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