Covid-19 has Highlighted the Need to Improve the Online Shopping Experience

As seniors with underlying health issues, my wife and I have made the decision to commit to buying all groceries and supplies online, until the risks of this virus are greatly diminished. For the past three weeks, we have been testing a variety of online grocery service providers. This is what we have learned.

Grocery shoppers and online service providers were caught off-guard by the speed with which Covid-19 has changed purchasing behavior for both online and in-store grocery shoppers. Empty shelves and “out of stock” notifications have become the norm as self-quarantining, “panic buying,” hoarding, and the closure of restaurants and bars have dramatically altered buyer purchasing volumes. Therefore, rather than critique any specific online providers under these circumstances, I will share a few general observations on some of the challenges my wife and I have faced and offer some opportunities for improvement.

1. Expand the Range of Delivery Options

For one of Canada’ leading online grocery providers, it is nearly impossible to select a date and time for a delivery. They provide a one-month window usually with no available time slots. When you call the 1-800 line for assistance, it is always busy. You can sit at your computer all day and wait for a time slot to become available. That is not a good use of one’s time and is very stressful in these already stressful times.

In the case of another leading Canadian grocery chain, we repeatedly received the message that there were no time slots available. You only receive this message after you have completed your order, a big waste of time.

There are clearly opportunities for improvement in the delivery time selection process. These options include expanding the warehouse, expanding the driver pool and enlarging the delivery calendar to two or three months as some companies are doing. Alternatively, there is the option of delivering clusters of products that are available at different points in time, as is done by one of the online delivery giants.

2. Be Honest about Product Availability

My wife and I ordered twelve items from one leading grocery chain, before the full impact of Covid-19 came into effect. On the designated date (five days after placing the order), we received three items (but were billed for four). We received an email, just prior to the delivery, advising us that we were receiving a refund for the other eight items. When we called the customer service line, we were advised that the wait time was 59 minutes.

Online retailers need to be able to link their in-stock inventory and their in-transit inventory to their online order process. As consumers, we need to be provided with a future delivery date for each product and have the option of accepting or rejecting the proposed date. If the stock is not available at time of order, or at a date in the reasonable future, we should be told up front so we can pursue other options.

3. Build in Control Mechanisms to Prevent Hoarding

Online grocery chains have a responsibility to meet the needs of a large number of their clients. Keeping in mind their level of in-stock and in-transit inventories, they need to try to make their products as widely available as possible.

To do so, these chains should suggest substitutes in each product category (i.e. Scotties facial tissues instead of Kleenex facial tissue), if a substitute is available. This expedites the online shopping process. Moreover, their software should restrict the numbers of items that can be purchased of each product. It is fair to limit a purchase to one or two units of a particular product, per customer, for items that are in short supply. If a consumer has a legitimate need for a larger number of a specific product, they can always order that item the next day.

4. Consistently Perform Tests of the Online Shopping Experience

We observed that some online retailers are changing their online processes from week to week. One week a large grocery chain was accepting phone orders; the following week, they changed to an email input/phone call confirmation process. We used their service before and after the change. The phone call input process worked well for us. We assume they made the change to email only because of the volume increase, to not consume the time of their precious in-store personnel.

The problem is that the email input process did not work. We did not receive a phone call to confirm our order. When we called the store to find out what happened to our order, they could not find it and never called us back. We understand that grocery retailers across Canada are swamped and that an order can “fall through the cracks.” As a consumer, we suggest that retailers check that their processes work before they introduce them to the public. We have shopped at this retailer for many years and held them in high esteem. This failure shook our confidence in this company.

5. Adapt, Refine and Improve Current Business Models

Prior to Covid-19, one of Canada’s largest drug store chains delivered drugs only (i.e. no pharma products) to our home, when requested. When we called them during the crisis, we were informed that they only deliver drugs to clients with significant mobility issues. When we advised them that we are seniors with underlying health issues, we were informed that we don’t meet the criteria for home deliveries. When challenged to explain why they cannot help us, we were told that they only have one driver to perform this work and that they cannot serve any other segments of the population. They offered us the option of picking up our drugs in the store or they will bring them to our car, if we drive into the parking lot and call them from our vehicle. That is a totally unsatisfactory response.

These are difficult times. Nevertheless, companies that supply essential goods need to adapt their business models. There are a range of companies that perform deliveries. Why not engage one or more of these companies and arrange for them to deliver pills, toothpaste, shampoo and other products that one typically purchases in a pharmacy? As a minimum, why not more carefully identify the most at-risk segments of society (i.e. seniors with underlying health issues) and make them a priority?

One of the most positive experiences we have had over the past few weeks has been the response from our local grocery stores.  They have stepped up, taken our orders over the phone, and delivered our groceries on a next day or second day basis.  One store advised us that they are only providing this service to their longstanding existing customers.  While they are a fraction of the size of the large grocery chains, they should be congratulated for the high quality, personal service that they provide.

We all understand that these are unprecedented times. Online grocery shopping systems were not designed for this type of crisis, for a dramatic shift from in-store to online shopping, and for the significant upswing in volumes. As a result, these suggestions are presented with an understanding that both shoppers and retailers need to come up the learning curve. Since it is likely this crisis will last one or more months, we hope that some of these deficiencies can be fixed in short order.

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