MSE News: Don't get an online grocery shopping shock

Former_MSE_Helen · 12 October 2011 at 9:16AM

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Online shoppers should beware a possible hike in the cost of their food and drink between order and delivery dates ..."

Read the full story:

Don't get an online grocery shopping shock

richardw · 12 October 2011 at 9:31AM

The way to avoid this is to research the day when the special offers from your store most often change. With Tesco and Sainsbury's it is a generally a Wednesday, so if you have a delivery on a Wednesday this is more likely to happen to you, because you would have done the order before and prices may have changed. Thursday would be a better delivery day if you want the new offers, Tuesday if you want the old offers.

loracan1 · 12 October 2011 at 11:00AM

she ordered 26 packs of pepsi

I find it hard to find sympathy at such sheer greed.

(and could care less for the multitude of excuses as to why someone should buy so many at once...)

As for the article itself, only tried online shopping once, bought a couple (that's just a couple, not 26) of things that were on offer, only to find the full price charged when delivered - it was a while ago and was not made clear that the price would be charged on the day of delivery. Not something I'm willing to try again.

chardir · 12 October 2011 at 11:37AM

The article is wrong. Sainsbury's show the prices and offers for day of delivery (so long as you book a time slot before you select items). The only variations on the estimated price will be due to weighed items and substitutions. This is one of the reasons I use Sainsbury's over Tesco.

ashby · 12 October 2011 at 11:44AM

Waitrose will always charge you the lower price for a substitute. I've benefited from this a number of times when they have sold out of an offer and sent something significantly more expensive. eg twelve slices of ham as substitute for six.

rogerblack · 12 October 2011 at 11:55AM

It's also poorly researched for Tesco.
Yes, prices in your shopping basket reflect the price as of 'now'.
But if you book a slot for a delivery, then you get warnings that offers don't apply, and you have to confirm explicitly that you want to pay more.

In addition, substitution items are guaranteed to be the same price.

As an aside, the order you make from an online supermarket is not finalised until you have accepted the goods at your end, you can refuse any item.

You should always check substitutes carefully, and reject them if not suitable.
(Helmans extra-lite mayonaise is horrible)

Pincher · 12 October 2011 at 12:42PM

I'm just surprised the major supermarkets would allow something like this to happen. The damage to brand image is far worse than the few million they can scam off the customers. A trusted pick and deliver system can be a major earner, as it's repeat business.

Online orders allow them to match supply and demand better.
It reduces the need for parking space. Potentially, they can operate from an industrial unit, with conveyor belt picking, if the demand is great enough.

Environmentally, deliveries reduce carbon emission, whether by electric vans or not.

They should improve the software, so that the discounts are itemised, and is explicitly part of the order, so you get the deal you see when you finalise the order.

Note that there is a loophole, where customers try to return items to get full price refunds, when they had bought them at discount. A variation on this is you buy 6 items to qualify for a discount, then return 2 (at the same discount) because you only wanted 4. You now have 4 items at a discount you weren't supposed to get. A very good system will spot this and remove the discount for ALL 6 items.

hermante · 12 October 2011 at 2:33PM

I ordered 4 packs of Brita filters at £12 each (half price offer), then added 2 cartons of Tropicana (£3.20 for 2) so I could use a £20 off £50 coupon. I scheduled the Tesco delivery for the next week for £3.

When the delivery man came, he said they ran out of filters and the offer for the juice had ended, so this meant £8 for 2 juices. I could have got the same for £2.50 in Sainsburys! (Yes it was more expensive in Tesco originally, but I had the coupon). We told the delivery man to take them back. The next week, the offer for the filters was extended, so that means they were going to get more anyway, and could have just rescheduled our delivery or something.

After complaining they dealt with it promptly, and gave us another £20 coupon. The delivery man had to come around twice, and minusing the VAT, their revenue was about 25p per filter. (I brought them to my parents abroad whose local store sells them for equivalent of £6 each)

If they just called us to say the bulk of the order wasn't available, and ask if we still wanted it, then they would have ended up better off. Although from my clubcard history they probably know how much they have made out of me for the past few years..

rogerblack · 12 October 2011 at 4:50PM

loracan1 wrote: »

I find it hard to find sympathy at such sheer greed.

Greed, or prudence?

I will frequently buy the maximum limit of items on BOGOF, or half-price.

This is as I try to keep a 6 month stock of all non-perishables.
Be it half price rice, or half price chocolates - the principle is exactly the same.
If their stock control is any good at all, an order for x items should usually trigger increased stock to be delivered to replace that stock rapidly.

It's only by doing this that I'm able to afford something more than the basics, on ~50 pounds/month.

For example, occasionally really nice coffee is reduced to half price.
I now have a stock of a couple of kilos that should last me most of the year, rather than having the bottom-of-the-barrel version.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver · 12 October 2011 at 6:07PM

I think a certain amount of stock piling is in order in order to generate food security. I would rather be secure in my food supplies than live hand to mouth. If an item is fab I would rather buy mulitiples of them than just one. Personally I would not buy that volume of Pepsi but each to their own. (sugary drinks are beginning to tell on my teeth by way of discomforture so a no no).
There are other threads on here on the issue of constructive stockpiling I believe. Maybe stockpiles provided used in date and safe are part of the MSE strategy; hence bulk packs of Rice at 5kg 10kg etc massive packs of spices etc etc. Online shops are the perfect format for this.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver · 12 October 2011 at 6:08PM

I agree with person who said it would pay the Supermarkets to do a good job on picking for online shops. Word. It pays to please and be supermarket equivalent of you strolling the ailses of the Supermarket.

MSE News: Don't get an online grocery shopping shock

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