Online food shopping getting better

Every little helps

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 5th July 2005 03:02 GMT

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Posh supermarket Waitrose chain continues to be best place to shop for groceries online, according to research carried out by Computing Which?.

Ocado and WaitroseDeliver were both voted top e-supermarket because they were easy to use and had some top features including "excellent" search engines which even found items that were misspelled.

Ocado is an independent company that is 40 per cent owned by the John Lewis Partnership (JLP). WaitroseDeliver operates from Waitrose stores and is wholly owned by JLP.

While Waitrose continues to do well, other supermarkets are improving their service too. Which is a big improvement on a couple of years ago when GoodHousekeeping decided that shopping for groceries online is a waste of time and puts punters under too much stress.

Their research found that it was quicker to shop and queue at the checkout rather than waste time fretting online. Said the mag's editor at the time: "A service which is based on convenience and speed should be catering more for consumers on all fronts - and not becoming a stress-filled chore which takes longer than a trip to the supermarket."

How things have changed.

Said Sarah Kidner, acting editor, Computing Which?: "Online supermarket shopping has become popular among people who don't want to face wonky trolleys, whining kids and checkout queues. Although the quality of the sites varied, overall we found grocery shopping online to be easy and convenient." ®