Online food shopping nothing in stock compared to supermarkets

[newmane40593]

We are fortunate enough to have a regular weekly food delivery slot. This has meant I have only had to go to the supermarket twice since lockdown. However over the last couple of weeks I'm finding it harder and harder to get so many items. I don't mind when they substitute them for different brands. But this week a lot of items didn't come. Has anyone else been finding this?
What's confusing is speaking to others who are going to the supermarkets they say they aren't having any issues getting what they want. I'm wondering If its because so many people are doing online shopping? Does anyone work at a supermarket here?

I've found this as well, but I'm not sure why it is. I've been having food deliveries but so many things are consistently out of stock. All the obvious things like flour, yeast, brown sugar, etc. But also random things like salad cream which hasn't been in stock for weeks, most smoothies, anything store brand, beef burgers. Friends who shop in person say the shelves are well stocked.

Ours has been ok online. Fewer substitutions as time goes on. Now down to about 2 out of 120 items. We tend to book a morning slot so it’s picked early when the shelves would be full. Apart from that I can’t see what else you can do. Use a different supermarket I suppose.

Agreed Op, I got an Asda slot fir about 3 weeks in advance but found at least half of my “ favourites” were unavailable. I made up the order with different things to a total of just over £50.
I checked back a few days later to see what time I had booked it and found they had removed so many items it had dropped below the £40 free delivery charge.
I gave up and cancelled it.

Try and book deliveries for first thing in the morning if you can. My last Tesco delivery only had 2 subs (one of which was hand gel which I didn’t expect to get anyway).

I find the stock levels at Tesco.com and Instore very different. My orders have generally been pretty good- only thing that was unavailable after I checked out was soft light brown sugar. There was plenty that I couldn't add in the first place like yeast but I still have a bit so it's not the end of the world. Instore the only hard to find item is flour. They get deliveries but they sell out fast.

I agree. Last week I got a food shop delivered the same day I had to go to ASDA pharmacy for a prescription. They were probably picking my items as I was there, as pharmacy trip was in the morning and delivery the afternoon. Decided to have a wander while they sorted my prescription and was glad to see everything I'd ordered was well stocked.

My shop had 5 things unavailable (that I knew were on the shelves), 4 shit substitutions for things I knew were in stock and they forget to deliver a whole bag of chocolate I'd ordered and had been charged for.

Is it that the staff are too busy/can't be arsed/in a temporary job so don't pick properly? Very frustrating!

I could have written your OP except I've only had to go to a supermarket once since lockdown.

But yes, there are still many things that are regularly out of stock. The main one being any kind of meat joint apart from beef (Morrisons), although having said that, this week was the first time I've been able to get a chicken and a small lamb joint.

More people are going out and shopping.
Shelves might be well-stocked, but in-person shoppers are going to get there first.
What's salad cream?

I was getting Asda deliveries for a few weeks purely because of the recurring slot. The amount of stuff out of stock was a joke.

I've found it increasingly easy to get Tesco again thank goodness. Last week my entire order came. This week 2 substitutions and 1 out of stock. More than happy with that

I have had this problem with asda. Also if you go to and your order and something has gone out of stock, they make you remove it before checking out. Even if you're amending 2 days before delivery is due. Yes brown bread is out of stock on Thursday when I amend the order but it's pretty likely to be back in by Saturday isnt it? But no I have to remove it from my basket.

I am finding a massive difference between Tesco online and shop.

We had to go to the shops and due to having no car we had to go a few times to manage everything, the stuff that was out of stock online I managed to get, but I felt it was beside the point, as we had to go out 3 times to manage everything (had to get pet food and cat litter)

DH is picking up our first click and Collect next Friday - we've been doing our shop in-store at 6am but finally managed to get a Click and Collect now things seem to have calmed down a little.

I think I'll get him to check the delivery note and if there's anything important missing, he can quickly nip into the store. At least it reduces the amount of time he has to be in there.

I always found Asda were bad, even before this. I stopped using them years ago.

Tesco have been pretty much okay through this I’ve found.

I wondered are they not doing as much stock accuracy counts at the moment so that's going to put things online out of stock that is actually on the shelves. It makes sense that you wouldn't be doing as many stock counts on the floor with reduced hours and social distancing.

There was no milk available at all when I did my online shop this week for today, not even the more expensive branded milks. Very frustrating as I know the shop will definitely have some.

My Tesco deliveries come from a store that is about 5 miles away. I have 3 closer stores than that and I’d never go to the one that my order comes from. Therefore what’s delivered isn’t going to be reflective of what’s available in my local store.

But to be honest I have had consistently decent deliveries. If I’m going to a store then I’m going late at night so as not to queue and so I’ve found it harder to get what I want from the actual shop as I buy predominantly fresh veg.

@newmane40593 I work as a picker and can give you some information about this.

It is due to us picking customer orders before store deliveries arrive with stock.

Due to the amount of deliveries we have at the minute my store now starts picking orders at 2am but some store deliveries don't come until 6am. Its not ideal but we can't wait until 6 because we aren't able to do our jobs now when the stores open due to social distancing. So when you go into store and see the products on the shelf it's because they have been put on afterwards.

I hope that helps

Yes, not been able to get caster sugar for love nor money online from Tesco or Asda since this started, yet walked into M&S and lots of bags on shelf.

We definitely find the earlier slots better for availability of items. What we find though is certain items are no longer available online but are in store, maybe because they have so many new staff anything they can do to make life easier for them is going ahead - I agree with this.

I was using Tesco and they were not good, unreliable and only half arrived - and that was poor quality and limp veg. I swapped to Sainsbury’s (mainly because of accessibility of slots) and discovered a much better service. No more need for additional veg boxes or other deliveries. Only one or two substitutions. Few things missing apart from flour. Very good service.

It is due to us picking customer orders before store deliveries arrive with stock

Good to see a picker confirming what I was going to say.

My shop yesterday it was mainly the fresh stuff that had the issues, but on the whole it was all there and the subs were acceptable.

Danni confirming makes sense.
No one I know had even been able to get a delivery, not a single one, in the last 2 months.

Has seriously pissed me off.
Op is lucky!

Its strange how things vary from area to area. I've generally had no problem getting Tesco slots. Ive got one a week booked for the next 4 weeks & there are plenty still available