Waitrose made it a double win this week with victory in our latest Online 33. Website navigation was strong and it took our shopper less than 30 minutes to order.
All four suggested alternatives were reasonable, while the two last-minute substitutions were slightly more expensive products at no extra charge.
Runner-up Asda was quick and easy to use. Despite the website looking “quite basic”, the process proved smooth. Two items were out of stock but the alternatives were accepted, and two substitutions were also similar to the original items.
Our shopper appreciated the fact Asda sent a text message half hour before the delivery arrived, and that the grocer does not do plastic bags.
Third-place Tesco provided a “very good and easy” online shopping experience despite a slight tech hiccup that wouldn’t allow our mystery shopper to update the order unless via the email link. The “very cheerful driver” showed up nearly 40 minutes early, although it did not cause a major problem. All alternatives and substitutions were accepted.
Sainsbury’s was close behind with its easy-to-navigate website and a good selection of seasonal offers. One highlight was the ‘Recipe’ section, which allows customers to go through written recipes and add the ingredients to their shopping basket. The two alternatives provided for Silver Spoon sugar and own-label diet lemonade were not accepted by our shopper. The driver was slightly late, but he was polite and informative. He confirmed that our shopper was happy with the handwash replacement, which was more expensive than the original product – Sainsbury’s issued a voucher two days later.
Ocado came in fifth as its score was hit by availability issues. Our shopper accepted six alternatives and rejected one.
The driver arrived half an hour early. One item was missing. In addition, our shopper seemed to have been charged an extra £6. Ocado said it was looking into the issue.
But the website was really easy to use and provided a series of helpful functions such as promotion suggestions and the option to set up a ‘food profile’, which is particularly useful for those with allergies.
Our Morrisons online shopper was disappointed with the website layout , and found the search function less helpful than others. The alternatives presented were “very restricted and unimaginative”. Still, all six alternatives offered were accepted, though our shoppers said they would be reluctant to use Morrisons’s online delivery service again.
The driver, who was 15 minutes early, was polite and to their credit, offered to carry the items inside – which was important to our shopper as a wheelchair user.
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