Waitrose topples Ocado in Birmingham online shop battle

It’s boom time in England’s ‘second city’. Birmingham offers world-class cultural options, buzzing nightlife and a modern city centre with all shopping bases covered. Its hugely diverse population has also made its presence felt on a dining landscape that encompasses the famous Balti Triangle, thriving street food scene and numerous Michelin-starred restaurants.

Add in five universities, more miles of canal than Venice and more parks than Paris, and it’s clear why Birmingham is an increasingly attractive destination for blue-chip employers including Goldman Sachs and HSBC. The same goes for wealthy Londoners, with Knight Frank noting that Birmingham is increasingly luring individuals earning £70k-plus away from the capital.

Even so, inequality remains stark, with all three of CACI’s most-affluent demographics under-indexing in the city, while lower-income households over-index across the board. And it’s the wealthier categories who do more of their shopping online, according to CACI. It notes that those categorised as Luxury Lifestyles and Established Affluence, “whilst only accounting for a small share of Birmingham’s demographics, are estimated to account for 6.3% of the online spend within the area (1.5% and 4.8% respectively). These groups also do the highest proportion of their grocery shopping online at 17.4% and 16.9% respectively.”

Those choosing to shop online are well served in Birmingham, with guests Ocado and Amazon joining the usual roster for this week’s Online Grocer 33 mystery shop. But after two online wins in a row, Ocado was toppled this time out by Waitrose, which posted an exceptional score of 96.

Our shopper “really enjoyed using the website” as it “felt well designed and the user interface was clear”. He was also pleased with the one substitution supplied, with the pesto subbed for a larger version of the same item – this was “great” because Waitrose “gave me the exact flavour I wanted despite this meaning they lose money by giving me the larger jar”. However, the best part of the experience was the “absolutely superb” customer service, with the “friendly and professional” driver bringing the crates into the kitchen and “carefully” placing them onto the worktop. “I’ve never had this with an online shop before,” cooed our shopper.

Second place went to Ocado with 81 points and two items unavailable. This was our shopper’s first ever online delivery, and she “would definitely use this retailer again, based on this positive experience”. She “really liked that I could buy M&S products”, found the website “easy to use and well laid out” and praised the “really smooth” delivery. Meanwhile, the recipe section was “fantastic” and the chatbot “very informative”.

Two points back in third place was Asda, with our shopper describing the site as “quite user friendly”. Navigation was “seamless” but she “disliked the limited payment options available” and said it would be “very helpful” if Apple Pay or Google Pay were available. Nonetheless, the polite driver arrived 16 minutes ahead of schedule and our shopper “liked that the driver asked whether I was satisfied with the substitution”, which was deemed “appropriate”.

Morrisons took fourth with 68 points, with its website “really easy to navigate and use” and our shopper appreciating how “everything was organised on the website into separate aisles”. However, some products did not show up in search on the first attempt (by product type), and she had to do a second search, scrolling through all products made by that brand. The order also showed up slightly late, by eight minutes, though our shopper still praised the “smooth and easy” delivery process.

Fifth place went to Sainsbury’s, which had just one item unavailable. Our shopper described the online element of the shop as “great”, thanks to a website that was “colourful and easy to navigate” and where it was “not easy to make a mistake”. However, the delivery side was “unfortunately not so great”. The driver was “patient but moody”, while the order “arrived 15 minutes late and I wasn’t notified”. Furthermore, the raspberries were “squashed” and went out of date the following day, while the cauliflower was “very small”. These issues mean that in future he would “look to shop elsewhere”.

Tesco finished sixth this week, with our shopper praising the “excellent” search function and noting he had “no issues making my order even though this was my first time” using Tesco for online shopping. Two items were unavailable but “appropriate” items were offered as alternatives. The driver was “polite but didn’t offer any help or assistance”, and our shopper was displeased that fresh items were not bagged – which is “something my regular online delivery provider offers”.

For the second online special in a row, Amazon finished last – this time with 55 points, largely due to eight items being unavailable. Our shopper found the website “easy to use and navigate” and felt the free delivery “made it feel like I was getting value for money”. However, he disliked the adverts for other Amazon products on the page, remarking: “I really don’t want to be buying a new computer when I’m doing my food shop.” The worst thing, though, was “how inefficient it was – I had to have a two-hour time slot, which is a big chunk of the day”.