Tesco has apologised after its grocery website was overwhelmed by shoppers trying to book Christmas delivery slots. Customers reported waiting for hours in an online queue on Friday morning when bookings opened for those with a delivery subscription.
The supermarket paused sign-ups to its 'delivery saver' service to support existing and vulnerable customers due to high demand. Tesco cited a 'technical issue' and used a virtual waiting room to manage the flow, stating the problems were resolved by Friday afternoon.
Shoppers expressed frustration on social media, with one waiting over two hours and being repeatedly logged out, while another lost desired slots after a 90-minute queue due to a checkout crash. The issues highlight the intense pressure on online delivery services ahead of Christmas, compounded by England's November lockdown and pandemic fears.
Tesco has nearly doubled its weekly delivery slots to 1.2 million since the pandemic began, as online grocery sales rose from 7% to 13% of total sales. Other supermarkets are also managing demand: Ocado's Christmas slots are fully booked, Asda and Morrisons still have availability, and Waitrose opened bookings a month ago with some slots left. Sainsbury's will release slots from 29 November, with delivery pass holders able to book from 22 November.
