Waitrose and Ocado

Waitrose's online presence is simply laid out and easy to use. As with the Sainsbury's homepage the focus here is not simply on online shopping. There are a number of recipe suggestions and details about the various loyalty cards that the Supermarket offers. The Lifestyle section is especially worth a look, offering the customer helpful tips on travel planning and gardening, and articles on fitness and healthy living.

Waitrose.com's online shopping facility is not neglected. In fact, the website offers a range of online shopping services. Not only can one buy groceries online, one can also buy wine from their specialist wine catalogue Waitrose wine direct, or party foods from Waitrose entertaining. Further, the supermarket's relationship with John Lewis means that the website links to shopping services that are the domain of its retail partner. Buying flowers and gifts, products for the home or insurance options are all possible simply by clicking on through to the relevant part of the online shopping page.

Shopping online at Waitrose is not limited to those who live in the south of England. Waitrose's partner supermarket service Ocado deliver Waitrose groceries to a wide range of postcodes up and down the country. Simply type your postcode into the postcode search box on the groceries page to see if you have to set up an account with Waitrose, or with Ocado (a link to the latter site being provided if your postcode search indicates that it is there service you need to use). As with other sites, ordering what you want, from either Waitrose or Ocado, is fairly simple - simply choose which categories of groceries you're looking to buy from and then choose from the individual products that are listed. If something you have ordered online isn't in the shops, a substitute item will be offered to you when your groceries are delivered (delivery occurring at a time, incidentally, that you will have chosen from a number of options having completed your order).

One should note that if you order less than £75 of groceries you will be given a delivery charge of £5 per order, and that this surcharge is compulsory for delivery in certain areas of Central London. This is fairly standard, but what is perhaps a little grating is that there is a minimum order requirement of £40 (excluding delivery charges). While this may be fine for those wishing to use online shopping out of ease, it may not be so handy for those who need to shop online out of necessity.