Ordering online groceries – As more and more people turn to online shopping for their groceries, wanting to avoid leaving their homes, stores are finding it increasingly difficult to deliver or prepare pick-ups for their customers. According to Instacart, a third party shopping and delivery service company that processes online orders for major supermarkets and stores in Canada, orders are up close to 400% from this time last year. It is unprecedented, and shoppers are finding themselves waiting for several days and more to receive their goods.
When the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread, thousands of shoppers went into a panic-buying mode, stocking up on weeks and weeks of supplies – to the point of leaving store shelves empty. Once stocked up with goods, there was less need for them to go out shopping and many stopped going out to eat at restaurants. Buffets were simply out of the question. As supplies ran low, online orders grew bigger – to the point that many grocery stores are now unable to meet the unprecedented demand. They are understaffed and employees are struggling to fill carts, navigating aisles and trying to maintain physical-distancing rules. All while other shoppers are also reaching for goods on the shelves.
It has resulted in serious online website problems for just about every major supermarket chain. Not only are they having problems with items that are unavailable (due to software issues and not being able process information fast enough) the websites are having difficulty dealing with the huge volume of people using them. Some sites are crashing and others have long waiting times, just to get into the site and have orders placed. Online customers have found themselves waiting in a virtual ‘lineup’ for more than hour with some sites, like Metro, not even allowing customers to place an order because all their available delivery time slots have filled up. However, all the stores are working hard to address the issues as quickly as possible. In the meantime, shoppers will need to be patient. And if possible, try to arrange picking up your order instead of waiting for delivery.
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