Tesco Lotus Launches Online Grocery

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

^{Any Somchai can pick his nose as he selects your chicken scraps from the open tray and then leaves them in the back of a non air-conditioned van for half a day as he negotiates Bangkok's traffic.}

^{Top idea !}

Perfect condition, carefully packed & temperature-controlled

http://shoponline.tescolotus.com/en-GB/

Perhaps that means the driver has the air con on in his truck/van cabin, when he's driving the warm milk to meet you.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

English language help and info for Tesco's online shopping:

http://www.tescolotus.com/shoponline/en/help-about-shoponline.php

I just registered online tonight, and the registration process went thru fine...

Even had a place for entering my Tesco Club Card number.

One thing that might be useful for folks, is using this service for bottled water for those who now buy it at the stores.

Instead of lugging bottles home from the store all the time, just have Tesco delivery it in bulk quantity. Not much they can do en route with cases of bottled water.

I too don't see any alcohol beverages listed. But they are showing ice cream, so they must have some way of being able to transport frozen stuff (you'd hope....)

One thing I noticed that is kind of annoying, apart from the lack of English product descriptions...

The website does allow you to save Favorites, but apparently, the only way those get added are when you actually purchase something. I don't see any way to make a list online on their website of things you WANT to buy...

Edited April 6, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

OK, so, I just completed my first online Tesco delivery order. Everything went pretty smoothly.

I was pretty surprised in that browsing thru their online site, I actually found a lot of things available for ordering that I rarely see in stock in their stores.

I also noticed that the online pricing for their items, at least those from my routine grocery list, seemed to be either the same price as typical in the stores or sometimes even a bit lower, which was nice.

I pretty much placed an order for a single item of a lot of the things we regularly purchase for the house, and now all those items show up online in my Tesco Favorites list, so I don't have to keep hunting the website for them every time.

As mentioned above, Tesco will not accept cash on delivery for these purchases. You can either pay online at the time of placing your order, or pay with any Visa or MC bank card at the time the order is delivered. And as also mentioned above, the website specifically says you can, at the time of delivery, refuse any item you don't like or want for any reason, and won't be charged for it.

BTW, as someone asked about above, I actually did see pizzas available in their online site, under the frozen foods section and then "main meals."

Placed the order just after midnight Saturday (ie just into Sunday) and all the delivery times for Sunday were blocked out at that point. Because their delivery service is NEXT DAY. But every two-hour delivery time slot was available for Monday.

Two other things, one good and one bad:

The bad: I found it pretty annoying that their web site doesn't allow you to change the number of product items displayed on a single webpage. The default seems to be up to 24 items, but there's no option to change that to 48 or 96 or even all. Thus sometimes, it meant having to wade thru 10 pages of items, 24 at a time, when the product item had a lot of varieties available.

The good: had no technical problems executing the order. And at one point, in the middle of doing my online shopping, I deliberately went away from my PC for a half hour or so to see what would happen, fearing perhaps their online system would log me out and erase everything I'd already delected for my "shopping trolley". Didn't happen! Came back after a half hour or so, and I was still logged in and all of my prior selections were still there waiting for me to finish my order. Good that their system handles it that way.

[Fgis]

How much to deliver 120 bottles of water ?

[ignis]

Is this really something new ?

a Isuzu single cab white pickup with a refrigerated box on the back, Logo on sides and back say Tesco Lotus Deliveries, has delivered to someone in my Village for at least the past year or more about 1 x per month........ I always thought this was food stuff ?

If you buy a washing machine or bed or something like that then they always include delivery

[whybother]

I've used Tops online shopping for the last couple of years, but generally not for fresh / frozen stuff. Fresh stuff I am usually buying every couple of days anyway, and, although I have had a couple of frozen things delivered ok, I don't really trust them with keeping the frozen stuff properly frozen all the time.

[ignis]

Should add to post 65. live way out in the sticks, nearest Tesco Lotus is some 30 odd km away.

There is another small one closer but not be open long, deliveries were being made long before this store opened.

Edited April 7, 2013 by ignis

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

How much to deliver 120 bottles of water ?

At least with the new Tesco online/web-based ordering system in BKK, it's a flat 60 baht delivery fee no matter how much or little you order.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Should add to post 65. live way out in the sticks, nearest Tesco Lotus is some 30 odd km away.

There is another small one closer but not be open long, deliveries were being made long before this store opened.

I dont know how this has worked upcountry with Tesco in the past. Perhaps you can explain.

But I suspect the difference with the new system in BKK is how you order -- don't have to go to the store first, don't have to call and order, everything available to see and choose online, etc etc.

Lots of businesses and stores in Thailand do deliveries. FEW allow you to shop and order entirely online.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I've used Tops online shopping for the last couple of years, but generally not for fresh / frozen stuff. Fresh stuff I am usually buying every couple of days anyway, and, although I have had a couple of frozen things delivered ok, I don't really trust them with keeping the frozen stuff properly frozen all the time.

Saw this when I was shopping at their CentralWorld branch the other day... I've never used that, but will give it a try soon and see how it compares with the new Tesco set-up.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[besth]

I think it is a great idea for bulky/heavy products or simply for the drinks, cleaning products and so on where you know the standard brands you want. I'd be a bit more reluctant about fresh products, but the people who say they have tried here seem to have had good experiences with them.

How does the actual delivery process work? Does the delivery guy know what he is doing and is able to amend the order if you refuse something or there is something missing?

[whybother]

I think it is a great idea for bulky/heavy products or simply for the drinks, cleaning products and so on where you know the standard brands you want. I'd be a bit more reluctant about fresh products, but the people who say they have tried here seem to have had good experiences with them.

How does the actual delivery process work? Does the delivery guy know what he is doing and is able to amend the order if you refuse something or there is something missing?

I have refused some products when they weren't exactly what I ordered (through Tops). The delivery guy takes the product away with him and I don't get charged for it. In one case where I had pre-paid by credit card, they actually brought back a cash refund for a product that they had made a mistake with.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I think it is a great idea for bulky/heavy products or simply for the drinks, cleaning products and so on where you know the standard brands you want. I'd be a bit more reluctant about fresh products, but the people who say they have tried here seem to have had good experiences with them.

How does the actual delivery process work? Does the delivery guy know what he is doing and is able to amend the order if you refuse something or there is something missing?

My first order with Tesco, due for delivery tomorrow, was mostly household and dry goods -- papers, cans, packages, etc etc... Though I did include some yogurt just to see how it fares.

According to the Tesco website, the customer can refuse anything they don't accept upon delivery and those items would be deducted from your bill. They explained that sometimes, they will substitute one item for another if something you've ordered online isn't available for some reason. Thus you could reject any substitute, or if the price has changed, or for any reason or none.

[bri1guy]

Will there delivery a few cases of SINGHA as well?? If so they have my vote for when I am in the city!!

[whybother]

Will there delivery a few cases of SINGHA as well?? If so they have my vote for when I am in the city!!

It doesn't look like you can buy alcohol on the Tesco site.

That's one big point for Tops online.

[EyesWideOpen]

I for one can hardly wait for this service to come to Pattaya !!!!

No need to ride with my daughter in the hot sun to buy groceries... :-)

[saakura]

Smart move. You can bypass their rude employees.

The only thing I would be concerned about is they would unload their older merchandise on you.

Its managed by Falang who want to be the leaders.

Can't see the mum and pop stores being happy about this!

The entire back office for this tesco thailand online and some other countries is in bangalore, india is what i heard. Maybe supervised by farangs living there.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As I mentioned already above, I saw no alcoholic beverages of any kind listed on the Tesco online ordering site.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm seeing some definite differences between the Tesco offering and the Tops' one.

Tops Shop Online:

https://www.tops.co.th/topsshoponline/Index.aspx

Tesco: 60 baht delivery fee, regardless of the order

Tops: 150 baht per delivery fee, free if 1500b or more

Tesco: pay by bank card only, either online or at delivery

Tops: pay online or pay by card or cash upon delivery

Tesco: only second level English language product descriptions

Tops: full English language web site and product descriptions, much easier to navigate.

Tesco: no alcohol

Tops: alcohol

Tesco: next day delivery 7 days a week, morning to late night.

Tops: Orders before 1 pm delivered same day. Orders after 1 pm delivered next day.

Tesco: online ordering just BKK area for now

Tops: online ordering for BKK and quite a few other city locations.

The Tops online ordering registration process was more clunky to get through, though if you have a Spots rewards card and can fill in that number online as part of your registration, their system prefills a lot of your address and contact info, with what Tops already has in their system for you.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Cheops]

Let's see what 300 MBaht buys you:

• 30 delivery vans -> let's say that would be 30 Mbaht
• stock management -> <deleted>#1, they didn't have this yet?
• IT system -> <deleted>#2, they didn't have any IT system yet?
• website -> <deleted>#3, given the fact that they used 30M baht for the vans, they had about 270M baht to spend for their website. Their whole website is a f..ing joke!

For 300MBaht you should expect to have this implemented in the WHOLE of Thailand and have a TOP-notch website to go with!

Website: where to begin?

• Oh yeah, let's start on the first link: try to click on the TescoLotus.com link on the top of their page. This gives you a: "The requested URL /en/ was not found on this server."
• if you opened the Thai version, there is NO English sign or word to switch to English. You just need to guess where you can change that
• For many items there are no pics, unless you click the link to the item and then a picture is showed, which can't be enlarged!
• Thai descriptions of the articles, even if you managed to find where to change the site to English. Yes, you can click on the item to see the English description, BUT even then NOT all is translated!
• You can't sort on brand (you need to use search in order to do that).
• You can't change the number of products that you want to see.
• You NEED to register first and login before you can even put something in your basket. <deleted>
• You NEED to have a cc-card or pay cod. PP or banktransfer is not possible.
• the list goes on and on...................
• ........................
• ..........................
• ...........................
• <deleted>#4: you can't order any beer online???? Oh, ok, Thai don't drink beer, right?

To all the people that have good experiences I would say:

I don't say that you can get your ordered stuff and within a reasonable timeframe, BUT we are talking about a multi-billion company here.

If they invest anything in a website, the site should be topnotch!

Even I build better websites and I just do that as a hobby! Multi-language, multi-currency, automated payments, you can order/pay as a guest (you don't even need to register if you don't want!) and so on....

It's just the same as all other websites in Thailand (well about 95% of them!): even the big companies can't manage to build a good site!

Oh and then this: "Tesco Lotus said overall Internet penetration in Thailand is currently about 30 per cent"

Haha, yes, to use it for FB for about 95% of the users

Last but not least: Are they serious??? To get receipt you need to go to the store??? I thought this was online shopping.

Right from their website:

How can I get a receipt for my shopping?

If you would like to request a receipt for your shopping, please take your Customer Delivery Note into your local store

and speak to the customer services team who will process your request.

[Hecate]

Now if they'd just do something about the roaches...........

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Right from their website:

How can I get a receipt for my shopping?

If you would like to request a receipt for your shopping, please take your Customer Delivery Note into your local store

and speak to the customer services team who will process your request.

Not sure what that's referring to, but when I placed my online order with Tesco last night, I immediately got an emailed receipt with a complete list of all the items I had ordered (entirely in Thai script, not English), an order number, the item prices, delivery address, scheduled delivery time, etc etc...

I agree Tesco's website is bad from both an English language perspective and from an ease of access perspective.

But once you've ordered somethings and they end up on your Favorites list (the only way to build a Favorites list is through things you've already purchased--another bonehead move), future orders become pretty easy.

BTW, on the Tops site, at least thus far, I haven't been able to find or see anything about saving a Favorites list at all. As best as I can see thus far, it looks like you have to start from scratch every time in terms of selecting items. At least Tesco gives you a Favorites list of things you've previously ordered.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Our Tesco online delivery order arrived on-time this morning, about 10 minutes into the 10 am to noon delivery window.

Everything went smoothly, and everything we ordered arrived as promised. But there are a few caveats...

The delivery guy spoke zero English, not surprisingly. And just the same as on the Tesco online ordering website, the printed list of our ordered items brought by the driver was entirely in Thai, along with the item prices. The driver was carrying one of those remote credit card charging devices, and quickly and easily ran our bank card to pay for the order.

Once he brought everything inside using a couple of large green containers, he was fine as we went thru and unpacked everything and checked the items against our order list. BTW, we ordered no meat, veggies or fruits, as those are things I prefer to select in person, and usually don't buy at Tesco anyway.

As for the issue of fresh vs. canned or packaged ingredients, it looks like the delivery trucks they're using have three different sections inside -- a large one for regular goods, and two smaller ones, one for refrigerated goods and the other for frozen goods. The yogurt we had ordered arrived to our house cold, but we haven't opened it as yet.

Here's the look of the delivery trucks they're using.

All in all, aside from the lack of English friendliness in all respects, it seems a good service we'll use again.

Edited April 8, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[FarangTalk]

there is a lot you can buy online in thailand. sold by thai companies.

Sure there is. Only inconvenience is that after you have placed your order and paid for it, you will have to call them to get he answer that the item you ordered is actually not in stock.

Absolutely.

Attempting to buy a NAS device online last week was greeted with 'no hab' and 'long time' from two Thai websites that were advertising the product as in stock. They sounded disinterested and weren't bothered. I thought any business would welcome a 40,000thb single transaction sale but obviously I was wrong.

How refreshing to find the same item on www.invadeit.com where a farang went above and beyond to locate the product from the Thai distributor and personally emailed me to ensure he got the sale.

Wasn't difficult, only had to call the distributor and get back to me, the customer. Seems that is a concept beyond the Thais.

They just don't have a mentality of customer service.

[Cheops]

Right from their website:

How can I get a receipt for my shopping?

If you would like to request a receipt for your shopping, please take your Customer Delivery Note into your local store

and speak to the customer services team who will process your request.

Not sure what that's referring to, but when I placed my online order with Tesco last night, I immediately got an emailed receipt with a complete list of all the items I had ordered (entirely in Thai script, not English), an order number, the item prices, delivery address, scheduled delivery time, etc etc...

I agree Tesco's website is bad from both an English language perspective and from an ease of access perspective.

But once you've ordered somethings and they end up on your Favorites list (the only way to build a Favorites list is through things you've already purchased--another bonehead move), future orders become pretty easy.

BTW, on the Tops site, at least thus far, I haven't been able to find or see anything about saving a Favorites list at all. As best as I can see thus far, it looks like you have to start from scratch every time in terms of selecting items. At least Tesco gives you a Favorites list of things you've previously ordered.

Hi TallGuyJohninBKK,

thanks for your nice updates about the Tesco del. service! With photo's and all!

Did you get indeed a real receipt after delivery? I understand that you get a mailed receipt, but this is just a confirmation mail with your goods listed I assume. It was in Thai you say, so this is not so handy. How can you check if it contains indeed your ordered items? Just need to trust this I guess:)

Yes, I expect that they can deliver on time NOW, since the only people ordering are probably us foreigners, BUT just wait until this catches up with the rest, when also the Thai will notice how handy it is to not waste your time in a Lotus. Then again, most of the families I see at Lotus are making it a travel outing with the family to Lotus.

And indeed: I wouldn't let them choose my fruits and veggies as well.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Actually, yes, I got an A4 sized printout of my order from the delivery guy, as well as a cash register type receipt. Both were entirely in Thai script, listing each ordered item individually and the item price alongside.

I can't read Thai, so reading that wouldn't help. But even without that, I could have gone down the list and made sure the delivery guy had brough an item in his baskets that corresponded to an item on the sheet. After all, I knew what I had ordered and pretty much what the individual item prices were.

One nice thing is, their system does have a separate section on the printout showing separately any instance where there's been a price change or item substitution from the time of your online order (such as if something goes out of stock, etc etc.) In my case today, I had 18 different items in my order.

I also got a separate piece of paper that, I gather, was something I should bring back to the delivery store (in my area's case, the Tesco on Rama IV in BKK) in case there was any subsequent problem with any of the delivery items.

I must say, though, it went a whole lot easier having my Thai wife home at the time of the delivery, including for her to talk on the phone with the non-English-speaking delivery guy when he called ahead asking for clarification on directions to our home.

A couple other thoughts:

1. I've gotten to really dislike going out from home during the annual Song Kran week festivities, where the only way in and out of my soi turns into a water park festival. So for those similarly inclined, the Tesco delivery service for groceries and ChefsXP for restaurant deliveries are real Song Kran week lifesavers.

2. I suspect this online venture with Tesco will be an interesting test case for Thailand. If it's successful and popular for Tesco, I'm betting other big retailers here will be pushed to follow suit.

3. As for Tesco's flat 60 baht delivery fee, for my wife and I, it's a 120 baht roundtrip ride on the BTS to and from our nearest Tesco. 60 baht roundtrip per person. And probably about the same amount or higher, depending on traffic, if we were to take a taxi. So the way I look at it, for us, the 60 baht delivery fee is a savings over what we'd otherwise pay for transport -- not to mention a huge savings of our personal time compared to schlepping up and down the aisles of the store.

Edited April 8, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[whybother]

Actually, yes, I got an A4 sized printout of my order from the delivery guy, as well as a cash register type receipt. Both were entirely in Thai script, listing each ordered item individually and the item price alongside.

I can't read Thai, so reading that wouldn't help. But even without that, I could have gone down the list and made sure the delivery guy had brough an item in his baskets that corresponded to an item on the sheet. After all, I knew what I had ordered and pretty much what the individual item prices were.

One nice thing is, their system does have a separate section on the printout showing separately any instance where there's been a price change or item substitution from the time of your online order (such as if something goes out of stock, etc etc.) In my case today, I had 18 different items in my order.

I also got a separate piece of paper that, I gather, was something I should bring back to the delivery store (in my area's case, the Tesco on Rama IV in BKK) in case there was any subsequent problem with any of the delivery items.

I must say, though, it went a whole lot easier having my Thai wife home at the time of the delivery, including for her to talk on the phone with the non-English-speaking delivery guy when he called ahead asking for clarification on directions to our home.

A couple other thoughts:

1. I've gotten to really dislike going out from home during the annual Song Kran week festivities, where the only way in and out of my soi turns into a water park festival. So for those similarly inclined, the Tesco delivery service for groceries and ChefsXP for restaurant deliveries are real Song Kran week lifesavers.

2. I suspect this online venture with Tesco will be an interesting test case for Thailand. If it's successful and popular for Tesco, I'm betting other big retailers here will be pushed to follow suit.

3. As for Tesco's flat 60 baht delivery fee, for my wife and I, it's a 120 baht roundtrip ride on the BTS to and from our nearest Tesco. 60 baht roundtrip per person. And probably about the same amount or higher, depending on traffic, if we were to take a taxi. So the way I look at it, for us, the 60 baht delivery fee is a savings over what we'd otherwise pay for transport -- not to mention a huge savings of our personal time compared to schlepping up and down the aisles of the store.

Tops have done online deliveries for more than 2 years. I am surprised it has taken Tesco that long to "follow".

Sent from my Phone.

[isawasnake]

Do they (Tesco) haul it up to your door if you live in a condo, or do they like to call and leave it downstairs. Sorry if mentioned, I read a bunch and just decided to ask. Thanks.

[lopburi3]

They have push dolly and locking system for the standard plastic trays so am sure they would deliver to door. They needlessly used this for my home delivery the first time strapping in and then unstrapping 10 meters away (they had Chinese lady observer as open there in June) so going by the book it seemed. Last few times, and today, have just brought the plastic containers into home area for review/check and delivery. Had one incorrect item today (milk type) and no problem removing from bill.

[justathought]

Any horse meat on the shopping list?

Neigh.

yes, labelled as beef