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Online Grocery Shopping

by Alex Freeman

Most of the major supermarkets offer a delivery service now, but is it a gimmick or a genuinely helpful service for parents?

I had thought it was a bit of a luxury, until, stuck at home with a very poorly child, I realised I had no food in the house and no way of getting out to a shop. I decided to use Sainsburys To You, and my experience was, on the whole, very positive. I have used it a number of times since and have generally been pleased with the results.

Sainsburys to You offers one hour delivery slots (a marvel in these days of waiting in all day for stuff to be delivered!) and my shopping was only late on one occasion: for the ten minutes extra I had to wait, I received a ten pound voucher to use next time – a very welcome gesture.

Using home delivery has given me back half a day a week that I would otherwise spend on food shopping; as a mum of three with two part time jobs I find this incredibly valuable. I have the shopping delivered at teatime when I know I’ll be in anyway, and currently if I spend £70 and have it delivered on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday there is no delivery charge.

Naturally, there has to be a downside; I don’t really like not being able to choose my own fruit and vegetables, also inevitably there are items you order that are not available – the staff have to choose a substitute for you, and whilst these are mostly done very intelligently, some mistakes can occur. I recently ordered a pack of satsumas because my children like them in their school lunchboxes, and they substituted a bag of lemons! I rejected them on the grounds that it would be somewhat cruel to give them to my children for lunch instead.

I have also found that it is easier to make mistakes when ordering online – I intended to order a kilo of carrots and accidentally ordered one carrot. I think the shopper realised, as the carrot they chose was huge!

Generally however, I would recommend this type of service; the websites are getting better and easier to use all the time, and if you have a loyalty card they can immediately show you the items you usually buy. The saving in time and energy has certainly proved a huge benefit to this busy mum.

Tesco Grocery Shopping Online
Sainsbury's Groceries

text © Alexandra Freeman 2005

About the Author: Alex Freeman is a freelance writer specialising in parenting and family topics and can be contacted via eParenting.

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