Improved click and collect service launched by Tesco

Wednesday, August 31, 2016 - 10:28 by David Aiken

Click and collect deliveries have become widely popular in the UK, providing consumers with the convenience of safe shopping online in combination with the immediacy of the high street. And this month, Tesco has announced plans to allow same day collection of grocery orders from hundreds of its stores nationwide, joining Asda in offering this expanded service.

Same day click and collect delivery will be available for customers who order before 1pm on any day of the week except Sunday. There are different costs depending on the collection slot that is chosen, as well as a minimum spend of £40 required to avoid paying a fixed fee of £4.

Tesco is not the only supermarket that is looking to introduce same-day click and collect capabilities, as Sainsbury’s is currently in the process of testing out a very similar scheme.

This is no doubt a decision that Tesco has taken in order to ensure that it can compete more effectively against Amazon Fresh, the delivery service from the US e-commerce giant, which has already launched in London and is set to expand to more areas soon.

Amazon Fresh does not have the advantage of access to a physical network of stores from which to source its products. But it does promise to provide home delivery of grocery items on the same day as they are ordered, or even within an hour, as part of the Prime Now service.

As with any service that offers groceries via safe shopping online, customers can expect that their orders will be impacted by the availability of particular products. So even with same day collection on offer, substitutes can be expected and analysts are waiting to see how well Tesco handles this transition in the next few months.