Doing my weekly shop online
- Neso M
- Nov 5, 2018
- 5 min read
My shopping experience at Ocado
We moved to a new apartment so I have been tarting around supermarkets at the minute getting my “first” delivery deals. Cheeky, I know but who doesn't love a bargain?
Why Ocado?
I decided to go with Ocado because they offer 30% off the first order plus free delivery for one year.
Ocado also price-match with Tesco. Meaning if your shopping does not cost you less at Ocado than at Tesco, they offer a voucher for the price difference for up to £10.
You can shop other home essentials asides from groceries from Ocado such as Home & Garden; Kitchen & Dinning, Health; Beauty & Clothing and; Kids Essentials
From what I researched, Ocado stock very good quality of food and they also stock products from Waitrose.
Pros
Savings
I think I went overboard with this particular shop because I wanted to fully exploit that 30% discount. While I was shopping, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the total that showed because I had in mind that I only had to pay two-thirds of the total after applying my discount. However, the numbers were racking up very quickly. I don’t know what I was expecting. Lol
They also have great deals on otherwise premium brands on a tab named "offers". I got a 1.5kg Angus beef joint on offer for £24 which was originally £37 #Bargain
Ease of use
Like any other shopping website, everything was categorised clearly and it was easy to navigate to find what I wanted. You can also create a shopping list with your staples to save time on your next shop!
Five Stars!
Ocado also has a starring and reviewing system going on for the products so it very helpful if you are someone like me that relies heavily on reviews. To manage your expectations, the reviews are not that extensive but it’s better than nothing.
Checkout
After shopping, it sure was good to apply the 30% discount and select a delivery slot for free. You are also given some time after completing your purchase to edit your order or to change the delivery slot.
Customer service
The customer service was very good. I got an email on the delivery day, confirming the time, and letting me know the driver’s name and all that. I was also told of some substitutions that were made and some of my selected items that were unavailable.
The delivery was well within the 1-hour window I was given and the driver was very nice and courteous. She asked if I needed help taking it all into the kitchen - which I was not expecting. Thanks, Sophie.
Cons
Prices
While the prices are comparable to Tesco's, I don’t think Ocado is particularly affordable. Like I said, I went overboard with the shopping so I expected to get a large delivery and that was not what I received.
Checkout
I had mentioned that the website was very easy to use. Checking out, however, was a little frustrating for me, I don’t think this would be the same opinion as everyone else. The location of the “proceed to checkout” button was not very intuitive. What was more highlighted was continue shopping button and something called "Smart Pass" that showed me other things I could buy.
Here's an example of what I mean:
I first clicked on “View my smart pass” and I was redirected to the shopping homepage “In Smart Pass”. And when I clicked on “Continue shopping” - assuming it to mean continue to checkout - I was again redirected to the shopping homepage.
I quickly learnt that to proceed to the checkout page, you should check the webpage header and checkout is on the top right of the page. You cannot proceed to checkout from your shopping trolley; which is alright but the position is not very intuitive.
I think it was designed that way to keep you shopping. Similar to the way some items are displayed at the checkout queues in the brick and mortar shops. It is not a big deal. Fair play to Ocado, I fell prey to this tactic and bought some more stuff.
IRL
You know sometimes, somethings you order online don’t quite meet up to expectation in real life. The biggest disappointment has to be this chicken I bought. I took this for granted and added 3 of them to my bag without thinking about it because, first of all, who really deliberates over buying a whole chicken? You see a whole chicken for £3.25, you expect a whole chicken and nothing less. There really was no reason to read reviews for chicken.
I kid you not, when these things arrived, they were no bigger than my fist. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture. The entire thing fit on my palm - packaging and all. I was very confused. That could be why the shopping seemed scanty because I was expecting 3 whole chickens asides from all the shopping I did.
I immediately went back to the website and to read the product information and that was when I saw the weight: 450g and that “poussin” was a butcher’s term for a small chicken.
In my opinion, a fist-full of chicken for £3.25 is a total rip off and I never would have bought it if I knew. I can get a normal sized whole chicken from Sainsbury’s, Tesco etc for a similar price. Also it is advertised as "serves two". I'll tell you now, it does not. What was even more annoying was that I bought THREE of them expecting it to be enough a week! Lol
I can’t really blame Ocado for the fact that I did not know what a Poussin was. TBH I thought it was a hoity-toity way of just saying Chicken. Also, the price was very misleading. £3.25 was about the same price as I would pay for a normal sized whole chicken elsewhere.
What is Smart Pass?
The whole checkout palaver made me curious about what this Smart Pass is all about. It essentially entitles you to free delivery anytime for specified periods; reduces the cost of delivery on some periods and; offers at least 10% savings on big brand items. It is akin to Amazon Prime - if you like. The Smart Pass costs £10.99 for a month, £49.99 for 6 months and £109.99 for a year's subscription. As I have the one year free delivery for first time purchase, the Smart Pass isn't something I will be considering now.
Overall Experience
Ocado has a large variety of products. You can literally find anything you are looking for within the price range you are willing to spend. Ocado-own product range is actually great quality and great value for money. The Angus beef I got was Ocado brand and not only was it great value, it was a quality beef joint. It was perfect for a beef stroganoff - very tender and I did not have to slow cook it.
I was happy with most of my purchase and satisfied with the substitutions I was offered. They applied the same price from my order even though the subs were worth more.
One tip I would suggest is to sign up for their promotional emails so you don't miss out on great deals.
Considering everything, it was a pleasant experience and I will be shopping at Ocado again - while keeping a close eye on the product information along with my tape and scales!
xx
#groceryshopping #onlinegroceryshopping #onlineshopping #bargain #weeklyshop #ocado #onlinesupermarket #ocadoreview #onlinegroceryshoppingreview
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