Online services rise to the occasion with another good performance. Shame about Sainsbury’s shocking use of 14 bags.
It was always going to be difficult for the retailers to improve on the excellent standard set in our previous online shopping survey four months ago.
After a year of poor results, the April results showed retailers were using fewer bags than ever, with improved availability and faster delivery times. The bar was set high. And our latest analysis suggests retailers have, generally, risen to the occasion, with Tesco’s flawless service spoiling Asda’s hopes of winning our Star Order award for the third consecutive time.
Last month, Ocado announced it would cut waste by putting use-by dates on its website and receipts. Then Waitrose upped the green stakes by becoming the first online service to trial bicycle deliveries. But Tesco proved it had the greenest credentials by being the first to offer crate deliveries.
Only Sainsbury’s disappointed: it used more bags, had a steeper delivery charge and the worst availability of the five retailers.
Most of our shoppers managed to log on to their retailer’s website instantly, although it took a few minutes for the Waitrose homepage to download.
The sites were easy to navigate and our Asda and Waitrose shoppers were particularly impressed by search box facilities that enabled them to quickly locate the items on the shopping list .
Tesco’s winning credentials were bolstered by its Express Shopper option, which allowed our shopper to simply paste his shopping list on to an on-screen notepad and then choose the specific sizes our list required.
Asda and Waitrose continue to offer the cheapest delivery charge, at £5, while Sainsbury’s price has increased by £1.50 to £6.50. Tesco is up slightly to match Ocado’s £6 fee.
Delivery times remain accurate and each van driver arrived within the specified time slots.
By and large, availability was good and the only out of stocks were from Sainsbury’s. Our shopper could only order 32 of the 33 items on their list as the Goodfella’s pizza was not available on the Sainsbury’s website.
The stuffed olives, organic beef mince, and cherry scones were all out of stock. Sainsbury’s substituted the items with a more premium variety of olives, 400g of beef mince instead of the requested 500g size and sultana scones rather than the cherry variety our shopper ordered.
Asda and Ocado delivered all 33 items on the shopping list, while Waitrose provided 32 because it didn’t stock the Goodfella’s pizza. Tesco also delivered all the items ordered, but the organic beef mince, Country Life butter and four-pint bottle of milk were unavailable because the shopper lives in Northern Ireland, where those items or sizes are not stocked.
The highlight of Tesco’s order was its thrifty use of bags. All two of them. As in our previous survey, it was the only retailer that offered a delivery in crates rather plastic bags, which contributed to it being the only service to use fewer bags than last time.
Asda used 10 bags, one more than last time, and Ocado used nine, just two more. Waitrose packed 32 items in eight bags, three more than in April.
Sainsbury’s won praise last time for halving the number of bags it used from 18 to nine, but it has undone all its good work this time by using 14 bags for 29 items – that’s two items per bag.
A more positive feature was the efficiency and helpfulness of the delivery drivers. Sainsbury’s chatty female driver took the time to explain how our shopper could claim refunds for the substituted items. Asda’s driver cheerfully carried our shopper’s 10 bags up to the 24th floor of his flat but Ocado’s driver, though friendly, did not offer to help our shopper with her bags of groceries. And none of the drivers remembered to collect the plastic bags afterwards.
All the retailers have improved since last year, when substitutions were in double figures, out of stocks were widespread and nearly 50 bags were used compared with 43 this time. But Tesco’s clever mix of technology and simplicity with its slicker website and crate deliveries, put rivals in the shade.
It was always going to be difficult for the retailers to improve on the excellent standard set in our previous online shopping survey four months ago.
After a year of poor results, the April results showed retailers were using fewer bags than ever, with improved availability and faster delivery times. The bar was set high. And our latest analysis suggests retailers have, generally, risen to the occasion, with Tesco’s flawless service spoiling Asda’s hopes of winning our Star Order award for the third consecutive time.
Last month, Ocado announced it would cut waste by putting use-by dates on its website and receipts. Then Waitrose upped the green stakes by becoming the first online service to trial bicycle deliveries. But Tesco proved it had the greenest credentials by being the first to offer crate deliveries.
Only Sainsbury’s disappointed: it used more bags, had a steeper delivery charge and the worst availability of the five retailers.
Most of our shoppers managed to log on to their retailer’s website instantly, although it took a few minutes for the Waitrose homepage to download.
The sites were easy to navigate and our Asda and Waitrose shoppers were particularly impressed by search box facilities that enabled them to quickly locate the items on the shopping list .
Tesco’s winning credentials were bolstered by its Express Shopper option, which allowed our shopper to simply paste his shopping list on to an on-screen notepad and then choose the specific sizes our list required.
Asda and Waitrose continue to offer the cheapest delivery charge, at £5, while Sainsbury’s price has increased by £1.50 to £6.50. Tesco is up slightly to match Ocado’s £6 fee.
Delivery times remain accurate and each van driver arrived within the specified time slots.
By and large, availability was good and the only out of stocks were from Sainsbury’s. Our shopper could only order 32 of the 33 items on their list as the Goodfella’s pizza was not available on the Sainsbury’s website.
The stuffed olives, organic beef mince, and cherry scones were all out of stock. Sainsbury’s substituted the items with a more premium variety of olives, 400g of beef mince instead of the requested 500g size and sultana scones rather than the cherry variety our shopper ordered.
Asda and Ocado delivered all 33 items on the shopping list, while Waitrose provided 32 because it didn’t stock the Goodfella’s pizza. Tesco also delivered all the items ordered, but the organic beef mince, Country Life butter and four-pint bottle of milk were unavailable because the shopper lives in Northern Ireland, where those items or sizes are not stocked.
The highlight of Tesco’s order was its thrifty use of bags. All two of them. As in our previous survey, it was the only retailer that offered a delivery in crates rather plastic bags, which contributed to it being the only service to use fewer bags than last time.
Asda used 10 bags, one more than last time, and Ocado used nine, just two more. Waitrose packed 32 items in eight bags, three more than in April.
Sainsbury’s won praise last time for halving the number of bags it used from 18 to nine, but it has undone all its good work this time by using 14 bags for 29 items – that’s two items per bag.
A more positive feature was the efficiency and helpfulness of the delivery drivers. Sainsbury’s chatty female driver took the time to explain how our shopper could claim refunds for the substituted items. Asda’s driver cheerfully carried our shopper’s 10 bags up to the 24th floor of his flat but Ocado’s driver, though friendly, did not offer to help our shopper with her bags of groceries. And none of the drivers remembered to collect the plastic bags afterwards.
All the retailers have improved since last year, when substitutions were in double figures, out of stocks were widespread and nearly 50 bags were used compared with 43 this time. But Tesco’s clever mix of technology and simplicity with its slicker website and crate deliveries, put rivals in the shade.
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