While you were out, the grocer let himself in to fill your fridge

WAITROSE customers will no longer have to wait at home for food deliveries as the supermarket becomes the first to send delivery men into their houses while they are out.

An “in-home” delivery service, in which front doors are fitted with “smart locks” to give drivers access to customers’ homes while they are out, is about to be trialled.

Delivery men will wear chestmounted cameras so customers can be sure they are not stealing or looking through their drawers while unpacking their groceries. Customers have the option of requesting the footage afterwards.

Similar schemes have already proved popular in the US and Scandinavia.

Initially 100 customers in south London will be offered a free smart lock, which usually costs £190, as part of the Waitrose “While You’re Away” trial.

It works by fitting customers’ front

‘The concept [is] popular in other countries so we are keen to establish if there is an appetite for it in the UK’

doors with Yale smart-lock technology and setting a temporary access code which is then sent to Waitrose via a secure app.

The code is then sent to the delivery driver’s device at the time of their arrival and is deleted after they are done.

The driver will put away goods that need to be refrigerated and frozen, and leave other groceries on the kitchen counter, or as instructed by the customer.

Waitrose said it anticipated being able to make the service available to more than 1,000 customers in spring next year depending on the success of the trial.

Archie Mason, head of business development at Waitrose & Partners, said: “There is certainly an increasing demand among our customers to make shopping with us even more convenient to fit around their busy lifestyles.

“Rather than waiting for a delivery or trying to put everything away, it gives customers more flexibility to use that time differently.

“The concept of in-home delivery has started to prove popular in other countries so we are keen to establish if there is an appetite for it in the UK.”

Nigel Fisher, managing director of Yale UK, said: “Working to develop the UK’S first in-home delivery service is an exciting premise as we look to understand how smart products can enhance daily lives.”