This is part of a longer article in the Consumer magazine Which https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/04/how-can-coronavirus-vulnerable-households-get-food-deliveries/
What is each supermarket doing to help? Some supermarkets have also begun to roll out support helplines, or use details recorded through loyalty schemes to contact the most vulnerable customers. We’ve listed what each supermarket is doing below, alphabetically.
A government list of people who are extremely vulnerable to coronavirus, which is being shared with supermarkets to help them arrange grocery deliveries, has missed thousands of people off...
Asda has said it received part of the database from the UK Government, and has contacted existing customers in England. It said it has begun contacting non-customers to offer recurring slots. It is encouraging those who can to shop in store, to free up slots for vulnerable customers.
It has introduced a shopping card for volunteers who are shopping for those who can’t leave the house. It can be topped up in a similar way to an e-giftcard and sent to the volunteer or left in a safe space for them to collect. This means that vulnerable people don’t have to hand over cash to volunteers, and there’s no need for an exchange of bank details. https://cards.asda.com/volunteer?utm_source=vanityurl&utm_medium=dmc&utm_term=volunteercard&utm_content=generic&utm_campaign=cards
Co-op has teamed up with Deliveroo to deliver basic essentials to households in self-isolation without a delivery fee. This will be run from around 400 stores.
M&S is also working with Deliveroo to deliver groceries from around 120 franchises in BP fuel stations. Like Asda, it has introduced a contactless gift card that vulnerable people can buy for those helping with their shopping to use.
Morrisons has announced plans to open a helpline for vulnerable customers. We’ll update this story with the phone number once it’s available.
Ocado is identifying vulnerable customers and giving them priority access to Ocado.com and delivery slots.
Sainsbury’s had already contacted 450,000 customers that it had identified as being vulnerable or elderly through its records. The government list enabled it to identify and begin to contact a further 150,000. It says it will now begin to contact new customers that have been identified as extremely vulnerable, as well as continuing to accept orders from existing customers who are vulnerable. The supermarket plans to expand the number of home delivery and click-and-collect slots to 600,000 by the end of this week, with further expansion planned after that. Sainsbury’s has asked customers aged 70+ in England to register on its automated phone system: 0800 953 4988. Vulnerable shoppers or those aged over 70 and living in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland can call Sainsbury’s on 0800 328 1700. Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe emailed customers on 3 April to apologise to those who had struggled to get through, saying that the team is working at full capacity.
Tesco doesn’t have a dedicated phone line for vulnerable customers, but has asked customers to shop in store where possible, and leave online delivery slots for vulnerable people and those self-isolating. Tesco says it has matched details from the government list of vulnerable people in England with 75,000 existing customers and contacted them to offer deliveries. It says it has increased delivery slots by 20% (145,000) in the past two weeks and plans to continue expanding its capacity.
Waitrose has started to offer elderly and vulnerable customers priority access to delivery slots, and has contacted those who have previously identified themselves as elderly or vulnerable when using Waitrose online orders or through the MyWaitrose loyalty scheme. It has asked that customers wait for further information, rather than contacting customer services directly. It has also launched a volunteer payment card which can be loaded with credit and then used to pay for a vulnerable person’s shopping.
What else can you do? Supermarkets are asking extremely vulnerable people in England to register for support using the form on Gov.uk, or via their local authority for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Comments