Online Supermarket Shopping
Our Secret Shopper takes a look at the online supermarket shopping website's for Tesco's, Waitrose (Ocado) and Sainsbury's (Asda wouldn't deliver to the address) and rates them for ease of use and quality of service.
Our shopper is a 'young' mum (I'll get shot for that!) interested in buying the weekly groceries for a family of four (2 adults and two small children). The attraction is the convenience of shopping in the evening after the children have gone to bed and not having to drag them around the supermarket. The average price of the groceries for the week is typically£80-90.
Each supermarket online store was visited and used twice in the period of a few weeks. The table below compares how quickly the groceries could be delivered for each of the orders, what the delivery charges were, how long it took to initially set up your first shopping basket, how long it took to do the second shop and what the quality of the fresh produce was like.
Earliest delivery slot | Delivery charge | Time to complete 1st order | Time to complete 2nd order | Quality of fresh produce* | |
Sainsbury's | 1st 5days | £5 | 2 hours 30 minutes | 30 minutes | Very good |
Waitrose (Ocado) | Next day | Free with orders over£85 | 2 hours 30 minutes | 1 hour 30 minutes | Very good |
Tesco | 1st next day | Varies cheapest£4.49 | 2 hours | 45 minutes | Poor |
*Note this is judged on the basis of the samples of produce that were received and may not be representative of all produce from these stores.
Sainsbury's Website
1st Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- Time to complete first order 2½ hours
- Although 1 egg was broken I was not charged for eggs but was allowed to keep them.
- All fresh produce looked good and had long use by dates.
Con's
- £5 delivery charge
- Earliest delivery slot was 5 days after ordering
- Four substitution items were sent with option to return or keep these.
Two items of fresh produce did not have a date that Sainsbury's were happy with, had option to return these. Products were of very good quality though so they were kept.
First delivery items were all of good quality.
2nd Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- Earliest delivery slot 3 days after ordering
- Free box of chocolates voucher sent through post.
- Voucher also sent for free delivery if spent over £70.
- Time to complete second order 30 minutes
Con's
- Two substitution item sent
Favourites list contained items bought previously in store as well as on line. This helped to make the shop quicker as a lot of the items came off this list.
Again all fresh produce had long use by dates and was of very good quality.
Waitrose / Ocado
1st Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- Free delivery if order over £85
- Time to complete first order 2½ hours
- Delivery slot next day
- All fresh produce had long use by dates and was of very good quality.
- Received free bar of chocolate with delivery
The delivery man went through whole order to check everything was there. There was one item missing. This was taken off bill immediately
2nd Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- Incentives sent via email free bottle of wine with next order
- If you recommend a friend then the friend gets £15 off order and you get £5 off.
- Time to complete second order 1 hour 30 minutes
- Received free bottle of wine and samples of fabric conditioner.
Con's
- Takes time to browse through special offers and what's new
Tesco's
1st Shopping delivery
The first attempt to order from Tesco took over two hours to put in shop -Tesco had delivery details from old address. Changed delivery address and whole order was lost. Complained to administration and apparently that's normal. Well its not normal on any other site I've purchased items from!
2nd Shopping Delivery
The second time I tried to order Tesco had problems with their computer and I could not access their home shopping page after logging on.
3rd Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- Hooray!
- Very easy to register details.
- £5 off delivery slot with coupon picked up in store.
- Earliest delivery slot next day £4.49 (voucher covered this cost). Costs of delivery vary according to time of delivery slot.
- Special offers such as BOGOF taken off bill on delivery.
- Most efficient site to use.
- Very user friendly.
- Very easy to amend order.
Con's
- Could not access product information.
- Two substitution products.
- Milk had poor use by date only 5 days - normally order milk to last one whole week.
- Peppers were very small.
- Mushrooms were old and needed using with the next couple of days.
4th Shopping Delivery
Pro's
- £5 delivery charge - 1000 club card points through voucher sent in post
- Time to complete order 45 minutes
- Easy to see BOGOFS and other promotions
Con's
- Ordered 2 x 4pints of milk - replaced with 2 x 2 pints milk so did not have enough milk.
- Much of the fresh produce was old. Grapes were bad. Milk had only 4 days life on it
- Three substitution products.
- Earliest delivery slot was 5 days after ordering
- One item missing completely from order although after informing Tesco they have offered to refund my account
- Waitrose/Ocado was able to offer next day delivery on both shops.
- Sainsbury's and Tesco's delivery dates varied depending how busy they were.
- Initial set up time is quite lengthy for all sites but when you return to the site you can view favourites. Along with site familiarity it is then much easier and quicker to use.
- Sainsbury's and Ocado offered very good quality with fresh products with long use by dates on both occasions.
- Tesco unfortunately could not offer the same high standards.
- Once logged on, all sites send through the post promotions such as free wine or extra points which can be used on line.
- Ocado is the only site to offer free delivery as standard on orders over£85.
Overall the shopping experience online is a lot less traumatic than dragging two small (under 5) children round the aisles once a week. Whilst it can be painful to set up and sometimes things go wrong, at least I can sit there in peace and quiet with my cup of tea deciding exactly which chocolate I should buy!
So, who do I use? Currently Sainsbury's as they keep sending me offers of free delivery along with vouchers to cash in my Nectar points. I would also use Waitrose again as the produce is generally excellent, but I'm afraid Tesco's loses out.
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Date Added: Wednesday 17th June 2009
"I hav eso far tried sainsburys, tesco and Ocado as i am a working mum and don't want to waste the time I have with my daughter going round the supermarket. i order all my green groceries and meat from buy-local.net which is sourced from local farms but i get one delivery a week from a supermarket to cover other things. I only spend about £20 to £30 a week and find the delivery charges misleading as when you book your slot they have one price but in the small print they say that unless you order over £50 you end up paying in general £6 delivery. Tescos had the cheapest delivery charge for smaller orders but I preferred the Sainsburys website and the drivers from Sainsburys and Ocado were so much nicer than the Tescos man. have not tried Asda yet so might do next week to see what their delivery charge is, but I only pay £1.99 for my buy local stuff that I hate paying so much to the supermarkets."
Jo
Date Added: Tuesday 28th April 2009
"Hi The experience you have will depend on which local store your groceries come from. The big stores are also Online stores and take their stock from the shelves for your order. If your nearest big ASDA is run better than your nearest big Tesco then you will think ASDA online is better. The groceries are picked in the store, so some Sainsbury's are better than others etc, depending on where you are in the country and who is working that day. The only exception is Ocado who have specific stores, and they are more expensive."
Marie
Date Added: Wednesday 15th April 2009
"We use Ocado, brilliant use by dates - better than in store, and minimal substitutions, they did have to cancel due to snow, but I was texted, emailed and the order was ready to reorder on the website - really easy. We did try the other two, but found the use by dates and subs really fustrating."
Emma
Date Added: Monday 30th March 2009
"I would like to see all the main supermarkets offer FREE DELIVERY to Pensioners on Pension Credit and to the Disabled. Sainsbury's have free deliver Tues, Wed and Thurs for those spending over £100, nice for those who have cars and money, but for those who are struggling and can only afford £20 or £30 a week on their food shopping, the delivery charge is a bit much. We do not have a car, my husband has a heart condition and I have arthritis of the hips, shopping for us is a complete nightmare, I would love the luxury of shopping online, but cannot afford the delivery charges. I shall be writing to Sainsbury's head office about this."
Lyn
Date Added: Wednesday 11th February 2009
"We used Tesco online delivery this week. The slot was 9-11 pm. They didn't turn up. They didn't phone. They didn't apologise. The customer service line closes at 11 pm. The next day I was 45 min trying to find out what had happened to the order and the next delivery daye was 2 days away. Issue still unresolved. Advice - try a different grocery chain."
Hector07
Date Added: Friday 6th February 2009
"I used Tesco Home Delivery service for over 6 years, the only free offer during that period was a pack of hot-cross buns,however, they did not arrive. On occasions Tesco substituted WHITE bread for WHOLEMEAL, Tesco delivered without a receipt on several occasions. The service was poor to bloody awful. No worries, now ASDA deliver in my area, prices and service so much better."
bh44
Date Added: Saturday 23rd August 2008
"I think Sainsburys are very poor. Every week I receive shortlife or damaged items, items are missed off, silly substitutions are made, the delivery is late, bags are forgotten, special offers are not honoured. If there is something that can go wrong, it often does."
T Doyle
Date Added: Tuesday 12th August 2008
"Tesco advertise that they have reduced delivery charges but it still cost me £5.99 for delivery for £105 of shopping which i think should be free if over £50"
B.Jones
Date Added: Friday 25th July 2008
"Will get this article updated soon, but for now.
We've been using OCADO most since it was written. They always text to say who is coming, in what van, when it will arrive upto a day in advance. They also say if all the items will be present. If they are going to be early they phone to ask if its OK!
All the delivery men (in my case) offer to carry the bags into the kitchen for you and they are all very polite. If its late at night they are quiet in knocking in case you have kids. The food is good, fresh and they keep sending money-off offers.
Honestly, we have found them great!"
Jon
Date Added: Tuesday 22nd July 2008
"Use Waitrose/Ocado more often I find that they are much more reliable than both Tesco and Sainsbury's however the decision is yours but I find the quality of food so much better too, and the promotional offers lower the price of many common produce and therefore can be compared on price with Sainsbury's."
Zak
Date Added: Thursday 3rd July 2008
"I always use an online delivery service for my groceries and find that ocado are excellent - the food is excellent quality and the delivery slots are 1 hour not 2, the products mostly available and the deliveries accurate.
However today i had booked a delivery by Tesco who i have not used for several months and was horrified by the service i received. the delivery was booked from 5-7pm.
I arrived home at 5 on the dot to find a card through my door claiming that the delivery had been attempted at 5.05pm - obviously not possible - so i called the number on the card and they spoke to the driver who refused to return!
I will not be using Tesco again as this is indicative of the service i have experienced from them before. Shame but more trade for ocado and Sainsbury's :)"
R Russell
Date Added: Thursday 19th June 2008
"We also used to get our groceries delivered from Tesco...as decribed here endless problems with nonsense subs, delivery being late, items badly packed & transported, wrong amount of items delivered & charged for (but refunded when complaint). Gave up after a year to avoid the hassle. Changed to Sainsbury's so far so good!"
P Machado
Date Added: Thursday 12th June 2008
"i would like to comment on sainsbury's home delivery. i have been a customer for 5 yrs now and not once have i been happy with them, food with poor use by dates on, items missing, surly delivery people and customers services giving you the 3rd degree when you call to tell them items are missing. iv'e had enough..i will be sticking to asda from now on."
d.h
Date Added: Sunday 13th April 2008
"have just used ocado and were very good. Will try sainsbury next but might steer clear of tesco...they are too big anyway."
R.L
Date Added: Tuesday 1st April 2008
"We used Tesco for the first (and last) time this week. Their computers failed so could not deliver as scheduled, then delivered 2 days later but charged us with the new prices (all bogoff deals finished by then) despite promising not to. £180 more than expected. Customer services were hopeless - we are still waiting for a refund 6 days later."
J ohn
Date Added: Saturday 16th February 2008
"We've been shopping with Waitrose/Ocado for a year now and we are very happy with their produce as well as the customer service."
Mrs M
Date Added: Thursday 31st January 2008
"We shopped online with Tesco for over a year. Consistently the same problems: senseless substitutions (No corned beef? Here, have Steak & kidney pie! No apples? Here, have a pineapple! No cat food that brand in stock? How about dog food!)Produce in poor shape, no paying attention to sales (order one item, there was a BOGOF not seen at time of order, only send one item OR not giving a sale price that was on at time of purchase), poor choices on online menu, problems delivering very early or very late, bringing baskets to door but no futher (I'm disabled); not allowing use of club card coupons (even tho the coupons didn't say 'not for use online shopping')... we stopped after a year because the stress wasn't worth it. One day hubby said "Explain to me why we pay them to torture us this way?" It all depends on who is picking the order and the training they have had. When we called management, they were very responsive and sent flowers, but it still didn't overcome the stress and frustration: three days after the flowers we got our order, and their was dog food instead of cat food. "
Betty in the Black Country
Date Added: Tuesday 11th December 2007
"We use tesco and although bad at the beginning,they are excellent now and all the staff are friendly and the produce excellent. good value as well! Thumbs up for tescos! "
liz
Date Added: Monday 29th October 2007
"Tesco online shopping, easy to use despite costing money to deliver ( i could swear i saw a spend over £25 and get free delivery ), changed address and lost whole order i justs spent 50 mins completing, not bad i have used em before"
Pegmarnos