Tesco is raising the threshold for free click and collect and cheap delivery for shoppers who order groceries online.
Currently when shoppers spend £25 on a food order from the supermarket, they can opt to pay £1 for off-peak delivery or £3 for a monthly delivery pass while click and collect delivery for store collection is free. That threshold is set to rise to £40 from July 23 for all these services. Shoppers who spend less than £40 and opt to click and collect will pay a £4 charge to pick up from the store.
Tesco’s move comes days after John Lewis said it would introduce a charge for its previously free click-and-collect service, while Amazon recently raised the threshold for its free delivery to £20, or £10 if an order includes books or other home entertainment products. John Lewis made the decision after a year in which click and collect overtook home delivery as the most popular fulfilment method.
Alastair Lockhart, insight director at shopper marketing agency Savvy!, says the move will not be popular among shoppers.
“Tesco’s announcement that it is to introduce a click and collect and delivery surcharge for orders of less than £40 follows a similar move by John Lewis last week,” he said. “While it’s clear that retailers are having to adjust their business models to suit the economic realities of an increasingly multi-channel world, this will be a bitter pill to swallow for many shoppers. Although our research shows that shoppers typically expect to pay for home delivery, they are less willing to pay for click and collect since they are largely unaware of the cost of the service to retailers. It’s an interesting move at a time when most food retailers are fighting hard to maintain store footfall.”
