Online shopping - will it ever go back to normal?

[2004SavedMe]

I have been online shopping with Sainsbury's for years, but I've not been able to get a slot since all of this madness began. I gave up trying quite quickly anyway, realising that there are vulnerable people that need those slots more than me, fine. I do keep wondering though, once this is all over, won't all of these people that don't normally shop online for their groceries realise how nice it is to shop online? Maybe they won't want to go back to shopping in store and there will never be any free delivery slots ever again. Why would you go back to shopping in store once you've discovered the greatness of getting your shopping delivered to your door?

Ocado and Morrison's have warehouses; our Sainsbury's delivery comes from a larger store about 20 miles away.

I can afford online shopping at the moment because there are so many other things I can’t buy and do at the moment. But the convenience of deliveries isn’t worth the extra cost to me. I was an Aldi shopper before so it’s not just the delivery charge, but the extra cost of every single item. The online experience at the moment isn’t very enticing. limitations in how many items you can buy, or how many in an arbitrary category are a headache. When something isn’t available I might put the other ingredients for that meal back and buy something else but I keep ending up with incomplete meals and it’s difficult to meal plan. I’m looking forward to doing my own shopping again.

I’m frustrated as I had an Ocado anytime pass and generally had a delivery twice a week for my large family with a top up shop at aldi or Lidl. Now I can only get a delivery every 10 days and I hate going to the shops. It’s really frustrating especially as still being charged Full whack for the anytime pass.

@2004SavedMe

Because people who are shielding are fearing for their life, and believe it or not, do not find this time of online deliveries "luxury or pampering"
I am on my 7th week of going nowhere past my front door.
When the time comes that i feel safe to go out, believe me, i will....

@JustStayHome I'm sorry you can't leave your home, but your response seems slightly angry for what was just a general question. I didn't mention "luxury" or "pampering" (believe me, no form of shopping is a luxury for me, I find it all very dull), but I was just thinking that some people will have experienced the ease of online shopping, that wouldn't have done it before all of this, and would therefore be thinking there would be no need to go back to doing it themselves. I also cannot wait for this to be over, so that I can walk out of the door without any fear too.

We'd go back to how we were before, occasional online deliveries but mostly in person. We used to order big/heavy/bulky things to be delivered but I prefer to buy fruit/veg/meat that I've chosen myself, we also bought some stuff from Lidl/Aldi and also zero waste shop which has sadly closed.

@drspouse that makes sense then. It was Ocado I was thinking about. I know that whenever I've ordered directly from Waitrose (vs. me ordering from Ocado), it was completely dependent on the local store(s).

To be honest the highlight of the week has been going out to shop as it’s a difference to the daily grind! Following wee Agnes down the pasta aisle keeping the social distance is the big event!

No danger of us doing that, if we need to go into self isolation we will do it (there are slots available here) but I stopped doing online regularly a couple of years ago when I realised I far prefer shopping in store. Not everyone prefers it.

I think some of the new online shoppers will carry on with it, but the stores will expand to make that work.
Still I may go around posting "oh Tesco is awful... I wouldn't order from there if I were you" until the numbers fall a bit.

JingsMahBucket

I believe Ocado have separate picking warehouses but most supermarkets pick from the floor. Hence the reason that a lot of the 24 hour supermarkets have closed overnight to let the pickers work with social distance observed more easily.

I think demand is dropping already, at least where I live. Even Tesco had slots for every day next week when I looked this morning. Iceland have had slots mist days too.