Food shopping online is a positive delight compared to a couple of years ago, according to those consumer guardians at Which?. In 2001, shopping online took longer than actually visting a supermarket and pushing a trolley around a supermarket yourself.

Now, though, it seems doing the weekly shop on the net is a real breeze. The survey of 1,500 e-shoppers found that it takes around half an hour to shop online, compared to an hour and a half in 2001.

Researchers gave "gold stars" to Ocado - the on-line grocer set up in partnership with Waitrose - and WaitroseDeliver after they were "consistently rated above average by customers, and they are the clear leaders in overall service".

Tesco did OK, although those in the survey said that items were freqently missing form orders. Asda was noted for its low prices, but failed to impress on customer servioce.

The worst review was left for Sainsbury's, which scored "below average" on two thirds of the 21 categories assessed.

Said Which?: "Sainsbury's has a lot to do to catch up with the competition. It was persistently below average. When compared with the service levels offered by Ocado and WaitroseDeliver, we don't think there's any point in putting up with such a mediocre offering."

A spokeswoman for the supermarket told us: "We're shocked by these results as some of the findings were incorrect and they do not reflect the good service Sainsbury's to You offers its customers."

A year ago Good Housekeeping found that doing your food shop online was a waste of time, putting shoppers under too much stress. The magazine found that visiting the local supermarket was quicker than shopping online. ®

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