Morrisons claimed a narrow Grocer 33 online win this week with 88 points. Our shopper said it was “a pleasure” shopping on its website, which received top marks for navigation.
Availability was excellent, with all our items available. She received a substitution on delivery day (Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Ice Cream was substituted with Baked Alaska) which she learned via an email and was happy with. Her driver was a few minutes late, but he was polite and asked if she was happy with her order.
Asda came a close second with 86 points. Our shopper found its app user-friendly (although it did not recognise products with misspelled brand names) and brimming with promotional offers. While three of our items were not available, she was happy to accept the proposed alternatives. Overall, it took her less than 30 minutes to place her order.
Her driver arrived within the proposed time slot, and was “nice, polite, and smartly dressed”. But one item was classified as ‘damaged or unreasonably close to use-by date’, which set Asda back a few points.
Sainsbury’s and Waitrose tied for third with 84 points. The former scored top marks for availability (only the Starbucks latte was substituted with a lactose-free one, which was “great” for our shopper) and the condition of the products. However, it lost points as the driver was about 30 minutes late – though she was notified of this ahead of time. She also commended the driver on being cheerful and patient despite the “atrocious” weather, as well as the fact he had started his shift earlier to sub in for someone else.
Waitrose’s easy website navigation earned it top marks in what was described by our shopper as an “excellent shop”. On the downside, availability was slightly off as two items were out of stock and she was not offered any alternatives.
Her driver was “polite and friendly” and took the time to explain fridge and freezer items were in the first crate and helped her pick up the items from the crates. Two substitutions were made on the day, which was fine.
Tesco in Hillsborough came fifth. Our shopper found the website easy and well laid out (the system brought up good alternative suggestions when searching for items). She also noted the promotions were clear and well marked, with Clubcard promotions prominently displayed.
Four items were not available, but she accepted the alternatives. She received three substitutions, one of which she was not happy with (batch bread instead of granary loaf).
It was the fact that the instructed delivery slot was not available, and the driver arriving earlier than expected that dragged Tesco’s score down. Still our shopper noted he was friendly and polite, contributing to an overall “very good experience”.
The Ocado/M&S partnership landed in last place. Ocado struggled more with availability than its rivals – while five of our items were out of stock, our shopper only accepted two of the suggested alternatives.
However, she pointed out that the alternatives for basic items (ie tomato sauce and sugar) were slightly more expensive, which would have been a problem if she were on budget. She also accepted one substitution on delivery day.
She described Ocado’s website as “easy to use” but noted the search function was too specific – if an item was not available, it wouldn’t bring up helpful suggestions such as variety packs or other different-sized products of the same brand.
On the plus side, the delivery driver was helpful and polite. Our shopper appreciated that he did not rush her as she is a wheelchair user, and that he offered to bring the goods in.
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