By Jo Best, 23 August 2006 15:45
NEWS
Tesco has spread its dominance of UK retail into online shopping and now bestrides internet grocery deliveries like a colossus.
According to statistics from research company comScore, Tesco has 66 per cent of the UK's online shopping market. Its nearest rival, the Wal-Mart-owned Asda chain, took 16 per cent, with Sainsbury's following close behind with 14 per cent.
Shopping heaven, shopping hell
We want you to tell us your very best and very worst experiences of ordering your groceries online. Who's top of the class and who could do better? Email your comments to editorial@silicon.com.
The supermarket chain, which accounts for £1 in every £8 spent on the UK high street, is now the largest online grocer and takes around 30,000 orders per day which are collectively worth £2.5m.
Tesco has bananas and loo roll to thank for its success, says comScore, shifting 11 million of the former in the first seven months of this year. Analysis also revealed that Tesco shoppers are a discerning lot - the supermarket's biggest revenue generator this year was Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue 12-packs, racking up more than £2m in sales.
Other favourites among shoppers were bulky items that are traditionally a chore to transport from supermarket to home, and fresh fruit and veg with a relatively long shelf life, comScore said.
Interestingly, Tesco still managed to secure its top spot despite not maintaining the cheapest delivery charges. Tesco clocked up an average delivery cost of more than £4, compared to Sainsbury's of around £3 and Asda's average cost of £5.50.
Earlier this year, Tesco revealed it made £1bn during the last financial year from online grocery sales, which account for three per cent of sales overall.
Though Tesco may have broken the billion barrier, the majority of Brits still prefer pushing a real rather than virtual trolley. According to statistics out today from the Office of National Statistics, just 20 per cent of UK adults get their food from the net.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Bruce Sandeman
I see a new poll.....
Who shops for loo rolls online?
or perhaps, What supermarket do you shop from online and what rating out of 10 do you give it?
that would be very interesting
I have to say that I am not surprised that Tesco have done so well as we've tried a few online supermarkets and Tesco have definitely performed best in terms of delivery time and they hardly ever have an out of stock item. Replacements are normally far more sensible than some of the other supermarkets also.
For example Asda would be in my opinion the worst, absolutely shockingly awful, hardly ever on time with the delivery, normally postponed until the next day and sometimes completely cancelled, rubbish. Of course they don't tell you this until you've been sitting around waiting for the delivery for some time....
Ocado are fairly good, never a replaced or out of stock item, normally on time, but they don't deal very well when they make a mistake. Just don't order between 8 & 9am if you have to go to work, as they can be late and then somehow stuff seemed to get broken, milk everywhere, not very impressed.
2. Sandra Garrington
The reason Tesco dominate so much is that the other shops don't cover such a wider area on delivery. Iceland only deliver if you go into to their shop and then book the delivery so do Co-op and Sainsburys don't cover the country side area at all where I live. Tesco's delivery has been great for carer's like myself who no longer have to find someone else to watch my special needs son while I do the shop. Yes I would be willing to pay the £5 delivery charge just to take away the stress of it all.
3. anonymous
Probably costs more than a fiver to drive yourself to the shop and back. - Bargain!
Plus you avoid all the ankle biting grannies shoving trollies up your backside.
Plus you avoid all the mothers that take their kids to Tesco in order to smack them and get them to wail in my ear!
4. misceng
Tesco may be marvelous for some, but if you want anything that is not a mass market item you won't find it in Tesco. My local Tesco used to stock a small quantity of Hovis Wholemeal bread which I and quite a few others like so I had to get there shortly after delivery before the shelf was emptied. Now they have decided because they don't sell much of it they will not stock it in future. Other items have suffered the same fate.
It seems that a quickly emptied shelf is not an indication of demand.