Two-hour wait for festive delivery slot – in a virtual queue

SHOPPERS waited for two hours in a virtual queue for Christmas delivery slots with Tesco in the first signs of chaos amid increased demand.

The grocer had anticipated a rush for slots as online supermarket delivery has become more popular than ever because of the pandemic.

Tesco apologised to customers yesterday after its website struggled with demand from households seeking to secure a preferred time. It was forced to install an online queuing system to deal with “high volumes of traffic”.

Customers on social media complained about the delay, saying they were being made to wait for hours, with the grocer tweeting an apology and saying the problem had been caused by “a lot of customers using our website and app at the moment”.

It tweeted later in the afternoon to say that the problem had been resolved.

A spokesman said: “Demand for online slots over the festive period is high, and we have more slots this Christmas than ever before.”

She added: “We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused and would like to reassure customers that there are still slots available for home delivery and click and collect over the Christmas period.”

The share of grocery shopping carried out online has risen from around seven per cent before the pandemic to about 14 per cent.

Industry analysts Kantar said this week that a record 5.9 million households had ordered food online in October as people have become used to the service after being locked down.

Experts have said that many people who tried ordering online for the first time during lockdown will continue to do at least some of their shopping using the internet, while Waitrose said in the summer that the shift is “irreversible”.

Ocado has already run out of Christmas slots, although more may be made available in early December.