When I recommended Tescos to a friend recently, he told me it was too far for him to travel to as there isn't one local. I suggested going online and getting it delivered to his door telling him that the delivery charge would be minimal. As soon as I got home I checked the delivery charge which was a very small fee but was quite surprised when I checked the prices. I have a local Tesco and looked on the site for the products that I normally buy. I was quite vexed and confused to see the prices are all about ten pence more than in the store. Why is this? It is not as if it costs them any extra and already they charge for the delivery. Is this the fee for getting them to put the shopping into a bag for you? Taking into consideration that we also have to pay for the bags. I also wonder when we ask the store to 'choose' our product, if they are not really picking the freshest of the ingredients that we would choose. For example, I will always look for the longest shelf life in a product before selecting it. I wonder what you all make of this and what your experiences are of having home supermarket deliveries. Do you find it better to shop online or choose your own products. I personally enjoy the shop and choosing my own products and looking to see what special offers there are that particular day.
If you are talking about groceries then the price can vary from store to store as well. Express and Metro stores may have higher prices than the bigger superstores even if they are only a couple of miles apart. This is the same for most supermarkets as prices will also vary region to region for the same items as places will price match too.
This is not surprising to me, as I too have noticed a trend with online store prices vs offline store prices where the online prices are more expensive than in-store. It used to be that online shopping was known for reducing your costs, and that was one of the major reasons why it was so favorable, as well as convenient. Now I am thinking that jumping in a cab/taxi, and buying stuff that way will be more beneficial.
Oh wow, I never actually noticed this when I used to do my online shopping with Sainsburys and Ocado! I guess it never even occurred to me that that could be the case. I mean, if Tesco is doing it, then surely they're all at it?? Now, what Theo said seems to make sense because I suspect the same is happening all the way here in Botswana. I recently travelled 1 000km North to attend a funeral, and on our return went to get some provisions for the journey back. I got some water, crisps, chocolate, chewies and yoghurt from a supermarket I regularly use here and was rather taken aback by the amount it came to; substantially less than it would have cost in the capital city, where I live. I couldn't get my head around it and even had the cashier re-calculate it all and she came to the same amount. That's when it hit me that we must get charged higher prices for the same goods in the big city. So I put it down to one the bizarre practices here. It's ridiculous!
The shipping costs on some of these websites along make it so that it is a lot more than you otherwise would have paid if you had gone to a store. There is tax to be paid on the items you buy online sometimes too.
If you do buy groceries online, you do have to shop around, plus weigh up the pros and cons as you can get free delivery on certain days and time slots. It can be worth it if you bulk buy, and for families, but not so much for single people or couples that don't buy that much. Having room to store things would be useful, as you can then make the most of BOGOF or 3 for 2 offers which can be good value. Tesco does have some good offers for not for everything.
