Last Updated on 15 March 2020 by Colette
Anyone with a child knows that supermarket shopping can be akin to hell on earth . . . The magical solution to avoiding small people in supermarket trolley nightmares is either to get someone else to go (always a winner if you can wangle that one) or to hit up the online shopping. We used to do an online shop pretty regularly but having tried the top three supermarkets offering the service we eventually got pretty disheartened with missing items, damaged shopping, short dated products and so on and so forth – really what is the point in paying for someone to bring your shopping to the door when you still have to go and buy half of it anyway.
Aside from that we also discovered our local Morrisons and found we much preferred the prices and quality on offer – the only downside was that they didn’t offer a delivery service . . . until now!!
Here in Manchester we are lucky enough to have been next on the list as they roll out their new delivery service nationwide. Now Morrisons are doing things bit differently – your average supermarket delivery service is ordered online and picked in your local store before being delivered to your doorstep. Morrisons use a dedicated distribution centre – in our case this is currently in Leeds which means my groceries are making a bit of a trek over the M62. Morrisons wanted to make sure that they’re service was “worth the wait” . . . so was it?!
The ordering process:
When you first start to do your shopping you are asked to book your delivery slot – the slots range in price according to the deliver times with the cheapest being after 9pm on an evening – even on a Sunday! Gold star for flexibility there. Of course the sooner you book your delivery the cheaper it will be. Your delivery slot is held for an hour while you do your shopping but, if like me, you take far too long and end up having to keep going back to it you just re-book at the end.
When you type in a product it gives a range of alternatives which is helpful especially as we buy a lot of Morrisons own brand products so for example, if you search “branflakes” it will bring up Kelloggs, Morrisons own brand and Morrisons Savers etc. It does attempt to correct your spelling and offer suggestions (which helps when you’re doing your shopping at the same time as about 6 other things!)
The pricing is clear for example giving price per 100g so you can compare different sized packets to see which provides you with the best value for money.
I was somewhat lacking in inspiration when I sat down to do my shopping so really liked the feature that allowed to search for seasonal ideas (picnics, Ramadan etc) and I also searched through the offers just to see what we might fancy.
Quite a few things I wanted to buy weren’t available – I found this frustrating initially as I knew they were products I would normally buy in my local Morrisons and couldn’t see why they weren’t available to order. I’ve since realised this is because the shopping isn’t actually coming from my local Morrisons and as the service continues to grow and improve so will the number of available products.
These are the things on my list which I wasn’t able to order:
* Morrisons own brand caramel rice cakes (luckily branded ones were on offer so didn’t cost me too much more)
* I could only order bottles of own brand Dandelion & Burdock rather than cans
* There were no cans of 7up free, only bottles – which was a shame as I knew the cans were on offer in store
* No Cif actifizz
* No wholemeal flour
* No fresh red chillis
* No fresh curry leaves
* No sweet smoked paprika
* No dried cranberries
* Fresh rosemary was listed but out of stock
* I wanted a fresh ciabatta and couldn’t get one – I thought this was particularly odd when the baker is such a big part of Morrisons and it just kept offering me packaged garlic bread. You can access and browse the “Market Street” but the bakery items were decidedly limited.
The website does allow you to make product requests so I did a lot of that. It makes sense that they need to suss out the market I suppose rather than wasting lots of product in the distribution centre.
Before you complete your order it reminds you of the items it thinks you might want and then lets you know offers on your favourites (if you’ve imported them) and then “flash sale” items which are limited to a set number.
The Morrisons delivery itself
The first thing I really liked about the Morrisons delivery service was the text to remind me that my deadline to make any alterations to my order was imminent. This was followed up by several more texts with information such as reminders about the delivery time and details about the van. The delivery arrived perfectly within the allotted time slot (which considering it was coming from Leeds was all the more impressive). A lovely lad called Araon talked me through the most comprehensive delivery sheet ever – everything was sorted into cupboard, freezer, fridge items etc and then even better by use by date! Previously other supermarkets have sent me produce to go out of date on the day of delivery – this wasn’t going to happen with Morrisons, I was even offered a “freshness check” where Aaron would go through my shopping with me to check everything was ok (I declined). It’s worth pointing out that if anything is damaged, you can just pop online to report this and it will be refunded quickly. All my shopping was delivered in perfect condition with no substitutions (something of a miracle if you have any experience of online grocery shopping). I loved the colour coded bags which just made it so easy to put my groceries away (as it was Amy was shouting so I shoved the freezer stuff away and left the rest till I’d got her settled).
The service was absolutely fantastic and the few niggles I had when ordering I can cope with – I just need to write a separate list of the bits that were missing for the purposes of a top up shop – it’s not like I don’t’ always end up going anyway.
As I’m writing I’ve got a Morrisons tab open planning my next delivery!
Top marks Morrisons! I’m impressed.
*I was provided with vouchers to do my shopping for the purpose of review however all thoughts and opinions are my own*
This sounds a really good service. Been having some issues with Tesco so really tempted to maybe give Morrisons a try but don't know anyone who has used them. Thank you xx
Definitely give it a try – what have you got to lose?! x
I love the that they separate your shopping by where it goes, that's how I pack my shopping in-store
I do to a point – but never to this extent. It was really helpful though!
I'd love to try Morrisons home shopping but don't think it's available in my area yet – Looking forward to when it is! x
I was so excited when I found out it had finally arrived!
I do hope they start doing deliveries in the London area.. not sure a trek from Leeds would work but I'm hoping they have something in the pipeline! I love Morrisons produce, it's always so fresh and pretty cheap!
I like Morrison's and I think shopping on-line saves a lot of money so this is something that I would be using if it were available in my area.
Good for Mozzers for getting up to speed with the other supermarkets. I've always wondered why they don't do it!
I like shopping at Morrisons but our nearest one is a bit too far to shop there every week – just waiting for them to roll out home delivery in our area! Love how they list things by use by date – I get fed up of other supermarkets not pointing out the shorter shelf life products on the receipt and then finding out I need to cook a 3 course meal at 10pm before it all goes out of date!!
I only tried food shopping online once and that was with Tesco, lets just say I never did it again. this sounds like much better service #triedtested
I normally do an online shop 1-2 week as it just makes life easier. I wish Morrisons delivered in my area as I'd like to give them a try.
We on line shop at a different store, but top up from Morrisons. Sounds like we should try their on-line service too!
This sounds like a great service! I wish they delivered in my area x
We online shop and would love yo do it with morrisons but they don't do it in our area yet. Will keep an eye out for when they do! Xx #triedtested
Awesome. I have been tempted to try grocery delivery here, but haven't made the jump yet. #triedtested
Great stuff. I wish they delivered in my area as it's one of my preferred supermarkets – not yet but hopefully one day #triedtested
It sounds like a pretty good service, although a bit limited.
#tried/tested
I've just linked up Morrisons Delivery too, as a guest post by my mum, since I don't live in their delivery area. But it is good that they are starting to extend where they do deliver too #TriedTested
That sounds really good. I love Morrisons but our nearest one is too far so online delivery would be ace.
Oh I love that they label the bags – unpacking is so stressful when everything is just thrown in together. I also love the idea of the freshness check – so many times I unload the fruit etc only to find it is almost out of date already!
the label on the bag are brilliant sounds like a great delivery service!
I tend to alternate my online shopping as I need some free from items that I can only get at Sainsburys and at the moment the A2 milk I have is only at Tescos in this area…it should be available in the 2nd nearest Morrisons so I'll be keeping an eye on the new delivery service expansion. Before I moved there was a brilliantly big Morrisons nearby and I never had any issues with value or quality. Sounds like they're putting a lot of thought into it as they go along 🙂 #triedtested
I've been umming and ahhing over whether or not to do Morrisons home delivery. We've tried them all and its only sainsbury's that seems to be any good for us. Might give them a try over the summer x x x
I love Morrisons but don't often get the chance to visit the store, can't wait to out my first order in. Great review 🙂
This looks like a really useful way of doing on-line shopping, like the way your savings are shown in big bold red box with white writing and that you can save buy booking a later delivery. Very handy being a shift worker.
Love the way the bags are labelled – great idea! We don't normally shop at Morrisons but I may have to check this out.