Supermarkets close online Xmas orders

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Ocado have stopped taking pre-Christmas orders over the internet, according to a report in the Financial Times.

But doubts surround the veracity of the FT claim which is not backed up by any specific statements.

The BBC's Working Lunch programme asked two supermarkets how they were coping. Tesco said that it had no problems meeting customer demand for orders needing delivery next week.

Sainsbury's said that it had 10 per cent of its delivery slots still available for next week, and had predicted a 30 per cent increase in sales and taken on 30 per cent more drivers in order to cope.

Some analysts are suggesting that supermarkets fear that online shopping cannibalises rather than adds to their business. None of the supermarkets details online sales in their overall figures each year, making it hard to evaluate whether it is winning them new business.

Sainsbury's stated that its weekly orders have jumped from 38,000 to a record 41,000, while Tesco claimed that it is handling 200,000 orders, up from a typical 170,000, serviced by a fleet of 1,500 delivery vans.

A spokesman for the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) said that, despite the boom in online shopping, there are still pitfalls for supermarkets.

"The problem is that their competitors are only one click away, and it makes it much harder for them to hold onto the customer in that environment," he said. "Loyalty online is probably lower than it is offline."

According to IMRG, last year's online shopping market was worth £3.5bn and i s predicted to rise to £5bn this year. Supermarkets achieved five per cent of their sales online during 2004, but this is expected to rise to 17 per cent this year.

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