Asda selects UK's oldest online shopper

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 09:20 by Sarah Collinson

The internet offers consumers of all ages a convenient and affordable way to buy products, but studies show that it is generally the younger generations which are more comfortable with the idea of safe shopping online.

However, supermarket chain Asda recently set out to find the oldest person using its e-commerce service for deliveries and discovered that 92 year old Arthur Lloyd from Nottinghamshire fits this description precisely.

Mr Lloyd said that he had been using the internet to fulfil his shopping needs since 2005 and decided to start using safe shopping online when his eyesight began to deteriorate, which made going to high street stores a bit of a chore.

While he is unable to read the labels of products in shops, he uses his computer screen to enlarge the items he wants to examine when shopping online, which he says gives him far more independence than he would otherwise be afforded.

Mr Lloyd has been keen on computer technology for decades and said that his first home PC was the Spectrum ZX81. He also said that being named as Asda's oldest online shopper came as a bit of a shock and argued that more people of his age should take advantage of e-commerce services.

The weekly shopping routine practiced by Mr Lloyd involves a weekly food shop conducted each Sunday, as well as long sessions of product browsing throughout the week.

His son David said that one of the nation's oldest shoppers is also keen on other aspects of the internet, using his PC to manage his bank account and even log onto social networking site, Twitter.

Asda's gift to Mr Lloyd in recognition of his venerable status and long standing loyalty was a free shopping delivery, according to This Is Nottingham.