Booming online grocery sales at Tesco have reached more than £10 million
in a week for the first time ever.
Well over 100,000 households right across the UK took delivery during the last
week in November of shopping they'd ordered from the supermarket using the Internet.
The breakthrough - coming a full four weeks before Christmas - is being taken
as confirmation that Britain has now accepted online supermarket shopping as a
normal part of day-to-day life.
Said Tesco.com Chief Executive John Browett: "These figures show that supermarket
shopping online has finally turned the corner.
"Over a million households all over the country have now taken delivery of
groceries from Tesco.com.
"A proportion of last week's sales are from customers taking our advice to
stock up early for Christmas - but it's mostly down to people doing their regular
weekly shop with Tesco.com, rather than instore."
Tesco.com is already by far the most successful and profitable online grocer in
the whole world and the only UK supermarket to offer a nationwide online service
(covering 95% of the population).
The online sales record will be busted even further as the Christmas shopping
season gets into gear.
Tesco's fleet of 950 delivery vans will work flat out up to lunchtime on Christmas
Eve - making nearly 24,000 grocery deliveries a day, including more than a million
bottles of wine and champagne, 20,000 Christmas puds and three million nappies.
.
As well as food and wine, non-food deliveries through Tesco.com* are also at record
levels.
Orders awaiting delivery show that Star Wars Episode 2 and Minority Report are
set to be Tesco.com's top films on DVD. Friends and Bond are also going to be
huge.
Lord of the Rings on PS2 and Harry Potter are well placed to be the biggest computer
games while Jamie's Kitchen and What Not to Wear will be the must-have books.
Electrical products selling most strongly online this year are digital cameras,
DVD players and mini hi-fis.
Said John Browett: "Shoppers use the Internet for convenience. They've too
many other things to do with their lives than spend half their time in shopping
centres.
"However, until recently, many people still found the idea of using the computer
to do their regular supermarket shop just too big a change.
"But the mystery has gone away now. We all know at least somebody who supermarket-shops
on the Net - be they a busy working mum or a retired couple - and that makes taking
the plunge so much easier.
"The record breaking figures for Christmas shopping are another sure sign
that Britain is now happy to shop online - for everything.
"In the past, there has been a feeling that 'there's no substitute for going
to the shops' for Christmas groceries and presents - but it looks like that attitude
is a thing of the past too.
- Last order dates for Christmas shopping on line with Tesco.com are 23 December
for groceries, 17 December for wine and 18 December for all other goods such
as books, music, movies, games and electrical items.
- *Non-food orders are delivered separately to supermarket shopping.
- Tesco.com first half UK results (before new ventures) showed overall sales
of £176.2 million (inc. VAT) and a pre-tax profit 1.5 million.
