Ocado and M&S

[Justajot]

We ship with Ocado and I saw this about Ocado possibly switching to M&S instead of Waitrose. Would you stick with Ocado if they did?

I think prices might rise which would possibly be the end of Ocado for me.

Not sure what I will do yet, I shop occasionally with Ocado but don't buy that many Waitrose products

Having a Colin cake delivered rather than driving miles to get one would be an advantage though

I'm devastated - I love Waitrose English Breakfast tea. We have an Ocado delivery maybe once a month when I stock up and I judge whether another Ocado is needed by how many teabags are left. We don't have any Waitrose locally - I'm going to have to order thousands...

I'm devastated - I love Waitrose English Breakfast tea.
Oh bollocks! Me too!!!
We can always get an emergency Red Cross tea parcel to you Duplo

We've had a weekly Ocado delivery for 9 years and I'm quite conflicted because they're the most reliable. The lack of Duchy Organic Milk might be a deal breaker for us, it's our favourite milk and we get through quite a lot of it.

I've long felt that, in general, the quality of M&S's food has deteriorated. They do amazing non-fruit varieties of hot cross buns. I like their blackcurrant sundae cakes (smaller than they were, though). I think their fruit and vegetables are slightly better than Waitrose; whether this continues remains to be seen, I guess.

I'm so sad about the milk! I'm not a fan of Percy Pigs, so this won't placate me!

Ocado shopper here and would much prefer M&S

So is this going to be the range of potatoes then?
www.marksandspencerfoodhall.co.uk/foodhall/aisle/vegetables/potatoes-corn

The bulk options aren't exactly competitive, and there aren't any bulk jacket potatoes... A proper big supermarket needs to have stuff like that.

www.marksandspencerfoodhall.co.uk/foodhall/aisle/vegetables/carrots-root-vegetables
No bags of carrots over 500g, hardly any other root veg.

This is not the place to do a big shop of basic fresh food.

Federica. Ocado have their own brand potatoes, won’t just sell M&S
www.ocado.com/browse/fresh-20002/vegetables-44330/potatoes-44333?filters=ocado-11966

They are usually less competitive than the Waitrose ones although that is a good offer on the 2.5kg white potatoes just now.
No large bags of baking potatoes like this one: www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Essential-Waitrose-Baking-Potatoes/18828011?from=search&param=baking%20potatoes
and the Tesco near me doesn't stock theirs so that's another delivery from somewhere else.

Ocado own brand will need to up their quality as quite a few of their fresh fruit and veg have customer reviews saying they go off more quickly. I found that to be true most of the time when I tried them. Maybe that's because people buy the Waitrose ones first. SO possibly with M&S instead, the Ocado own will sell more quickly.

I'll be dropping my delivery pass. Most of my shop is Waitrose goods- not interested in M&S. It's a shame as I think Ocado is my favourite delivery service and I've been with them for ages.

Mixed feelings. Ocado has the best app and user experience. Waitrose online always runs out of stuff for me and i hate the website and app as it’s so clunky compared to Ocado.

There are a lot of products I’d love to get delivered from M&S but they are more expensive and I’m not as sure about some of the other brands Ocado use. So basically I’m sitting on the fence. I’ve already started going to the supermarket more as I was finding the fruit and veg from Waitrose (either from Ocado or Waitrose online) wasn’t lasting as long as I’d like like.

Cheers, Friar

We're in a Booths area and like to cut down on plastic packaging so I don't get either Ocado or Waitrose fruit and veg but I imagine there's the possibility of Ocado expanding their own range to fill in the Waitrose gaps even though M&S aren't going to go down the bulk, less than perfect route?

Well it's not going to be happening in Scotland. Quelle surprise!

Union of equals?

So it is happening... 2020 just had an emajl

Well I’m an ocado regular shopper and a smart pass holder and I’m gutted! I’m really surprised at the number of people who are happy to substitute Ocado own brand stuff for Waitrose stuff. I find most of the Ocado own brand stuff is horrible quality and always pay a few pence more to buy the Waitrose Essential version. We have a large M&S foodhall here and you still can’t get most of the stuff you need for even a basic shop. Ocado still stock a lot of Waitrose specialist ingredients. M&S just don’t have that range of stuff and it’s too specialised for Ocado to branch out into. I’m really disappointed as our local Waitrose isn’t very good and I haven’t heard very good things about waitrose’s own delivery service. I have no idea where I’m going to shop now!

Argh, I just got the email. Absolutely gutted. No more Waitrose no1 coffee! Not happy at all about this.

Not pleased. I need to keep using Ocado as they are so reliable (unless the Waitrose direct service massively increases in quality by 2020). But most of my shopping is Waitrose own brand.

I note they are expanding the m and s range but I’ll be watching closely for my frozen chopped onions, Waitrose 1 juice, etc

Yup! Only Waitrose frozen diced onions are diced fine enough! It’s these little things that I appreciate and the reason why I’m happy to spend a bit more at Ocado every week.

@NewGrandad What are they doing in Scotland?

Is there a mass email going out? (I've not received it yet if there is)
Or did some of you email them with questions and complaints?

This will be good for us as m&s does a very good GF range and I don't buy loads of Waitrose own stuff, maybe 25% of the shop. I don't find m&s much diff in price but agree the range is limited.

Waitrose direct needs to get its act together as it's woeful. Very limited range and always a lot of subs in my experience. I believe they get it from your nearest store, mine is quite small so it's limited!

Apparently John Lewis and partners is very difficult to work with hence the fall out! But that's just what someone who works at Waitrose told me

Not pleased either! I get quite a few essential Waitrose bits as well as Ocado own brand. Will probably cancel my delivery pass once the changeover happens.

I'm really disappointed.

Love Ocado. Live Waitrose.

No interest whatsoever in M&S

I suppose I'll have to switch

I will probably switch to waitrose delivery

Well, I suppose I'll still use Ocado sometimes.

But like so many others on this thread will be trying out Waitrose Direct.