Taking the "gross" out of my grocery shopping (tesco.com)

Member Name: indychick_uk

Product:	tesco.com
Date:	05/11/01 (294 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No more screaming kids, dithering grannies, wonky trolleys, need I go on?

Disadvantages: Occasional disappointments when goods are out of stock, but that's no different to the real supermarket is it?

Having read a few of the ops on Tesco Direct and seeing that they are mostly uncomplimentary I thought I should even things out and tell you how much I love them.

Before Tesco Direct, the thought of the weekly shop would fill me with dread. As I approached the supermarket car-park the panic would begin to rise, as I fought for my trolley and passed through into the bright lights, piped music and smell of baking bread I would metamorphose into an entirely different personality. I would become violent, prone to bouts of inexplicable rage and liable to shout at anyone getting in my way. I had got my shopping trips tightly honed into a hit and run operation, in, shop, out in around 25 minutes. Yes, I am a victim of “trolley rage” despite numerous counselling sessions I have been unable to control myself and have in fact been banned from my local Safeway after reducing a young mother to tears when she had the audacity to knock into me with her pushchair.

Then, about 3 years ago, the answer arrived – in the form of a computer disc from my local Tesco store. They were to be one of a number of stores to take part in the first trials of internet shopping. What a godsend! To sit quietly in my own home, with a cup of tea, some soothing music on the stereo and browse the virtual aisles without fear of screaming children or dithering grannies..

Over the time I've been signed up the service has improved greatly, most recently moving to an online service rather than the rather cumbersome offline service that it used to be. This offline service involved dialling up to download updated price lists and products before entering your shopping list and then dialling up again to send your order at which point you'd discover that half the things you ordered were out of stock.

They have also recently changed the system so that you can check on available delivery slots and book one before you order your shopping. Thus eliminati
ng the frustration of spending 20 minutes choosing your order only to find the earliest it could be delivered was two weeks next Thursday.

USING THE SITE

The site itself is very easy to use. Firstly you need to register which takes a few minutes to enter name, address, clubcard details and set up a password to access your account. Once done, you enter whichever part of the site you wish to visit, as well as the grocery shop there’s Tesco Finances, Gift ideas and various “warehouses” including electrical goods and wine. I’ve used the gift section to order hampers of goodies for elderly relatives at Christmas and also ordered wine from Tesco but I’ve not used any of the other sections. My main raison d’etre for being on their site, after all, is the grocery shop.

CHOOSING YOUR SHOPPING

Each time you log-in to the site and enter the grocery shop the site will take a few seconds to download current price lists, special offers, stock levels etc and then you’re in. The site is organised into “aisles” each containing pretty much what the real aisles in the shop contain, each subdivided into categories. For instance click on “Bakery & Cakes” and you are given a sublist including “In store Bakery”, “Morning Goods” – choose one of these options and you will be faced with the list of products on offer with their price and a few details. Any goods subject to a special offer will have a little “£” symbol next to them, anything you’ve bought in the past has a heart symbol and some items also have an “info” button. Clicking on this brings up an information pane with general product info, nutritional info, ingredients, lifestyle (which tells you whether it’s suitable for vegetarians, or those with nut allergies) and usage (which is basically the cooking instructions as they appear on the back of the packet) - itR
17;s just like wandering along the aisle and reading the packet before you make your decision to buy!


CHECKOUT AND DELIVERY

Once you’ve filled your basket you move to the checkout, if you haven’t done so already you will be asked to choose a delivery slot, they are two hour slots from 10am to 10pm on Mondays to Saturdays and from 10am to 3pm on Sundays. You can book a delivery slot up to three weeks in advance – great if you’re planning a party or going on holiday and want your shopping delivered when you arrive back.

When you’ve picked your delivery slot all that’s left is to fill in your credit card details and send your order, you’ll receive an email confirmation immediately detailing what you’ve bought and giving you a “guide price” for your shopping. The price is only a guide because some items may be unavailable or offers may have expired.

GOODIES

There are quite a few little "bells & whistles" on the site – If you choose “My Favourites” you can call up a list of every item you’ve ever bought or, more usefully, your last shop. This is great if you tend to buy the same basic items every week as you can just check down the list and delete anything you don’t need this week, click “add to basket” and there’s the bulk of your shopping done. Although the first shop might take a little time, any thereafter is a doddle.

There’s also a “search” function so rather than trolling through the departments trying to guess where organic tofu might be listed you can simply type it in and you’re given a list of all the products that match (there are two matches for organic tofu, one on the Organic Cooking Products shelf and one on the Organic Meat Free shelf if you’re interested)

If you’re a bargain hunter, and let’s face it who isn’t, you can sel
ect the “latest bargains” aisle and you can choose from the best bargains or see the bargains within each department of the store.

You can choose whether you want goods to be “substituted” if what you order is not in stock when your order is picked. It’s probably best to do so, as not getting any bread just because the particular loaf you specified wasn’t available can be annoying. The substitutions are sometimes a little strange – I once ordered a jar of pesto and it was substituted with a tin of peas (I was told that the staff who pick the orders have a palm top computer and some of them simply take the next item on the stock list to substitute), however the delivery driver should go through your substitutions with you when he delivers the order and you can refuse them and have the money refunded. If the driver doesn’t offer to do this, do it yourself before you sign for your shopping.

If you have a Tesco clubcard then, as long as you register the number on the site, you still collect points and receive vouchers. To redeem these you simply hand them to the delivery driver and the value is refunded to your card when he takes them back to the shop. Unfortunately you can’t use the special product specific coupons that you get – which is something I’ve been complaining about to Tesco for some time now.

PROBLEMS

Over the past couple of years I've had very few problems with being short delivered, in fact I've probably been the recipient of other people's orders more often than I've lost out. Notably receiving a whole bag of cat food that I hadn't ordered and hadn't paid for - my cat was most grateful! On the few occasions when I have been short delivered I’ve called the store and they’ve sorted it out immediately. On one occasion there was a whole bag missing and they called the driver who returned to my house to deliver it, on anot
her occasion I’d ordered a case of beer on special offer, the driver couldn’t find it on the van so the store refunded the money and said they would honour the special offer next time I ordered even though it was no longer running.

ADVANTAGES

Other than never having to go near another supermarket in my life,on advantage I've noticed with shopping online is that my shopping bill has reduced considerably. I think this is due to the absence of "impulse buys" in my shopping bag now that I’m not wandering round the store being lured in by end of aisle displays or being taken in by that old standby of supermarkets – moving the cream cake display into the place that has always been for milk thus tricking you into going there and buying something you really don’t want. This reduction has more than covered the £5 delivery charge I pay for online shopping.

MY OPINION

Overall I think the service is great, the delivery drivers in my area are very friendly and always on time, I generally get what I order and it means I don't have to go to the supermarket...now if I can only find someone to unpack the shopping and put it away in my cupboards I'd be in heaven.

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