Introduction This report details an analysis of site design within the online grocery shopping market. It focuses upon key online aspects and functions which make up each website, such as the personalisation, accessibility and interactivity. It also gives an outline
of the financial status of each
business within the report looking at market position and share,
their
revenue, their cost management and their funding. Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and in parts Ocado will be analysed, compared and contrasted in terms of these core elements of website design. They will also be evaluated in their effectiveness and efficiency in utilising the website, and digital elements. In addition how they are integrating it with their business and marketing objectives, and it’s role and relevance with new technology. This report will provide recommendations for each of the online supermarkets in how they should be utilising each element and in certain parts how they should be developing themselves. Primary research gathered through a digital platform will then be used to gain insight into their relationship and opinions of the online websites, and how they feel improvement can be made. Finally the report will rate the website in for each element which will allude as an overall which online grocery website should be recommended for the
consumer.
Financial Context
Introduction So, we’ve had a look at the different strategic and creative components used, this sections will help understand what’s in it for the owners/shareholders. Obviously, it goes with out saying the purpose of setting up a private sector business is to increase profits and sales, bringing back a better return for the owner/shareholders.
Market Scope Let’s start off by looking at the online grocery industry as a whole. A report produced by DataMonitor in 2010, indicated that the UK online food and grocery industry was worth as mere £365m in the year 2000. In the space of 10 years this has shot up to £4.7b, however DataMonitor believe that the industry faces a dramatic slow down, with an average growth rate of 12.6% compared to the 26.7% enjoyed over the past 5years. The report indicates that the market has reached maturity, the most imperative act to fully maximise growth in the sector is to push capacity and efficiency gains. Expectations from consumers will rise greatly; tolerance towards poor services will slowly evaporate, therefore along side capacity and efficiency gains companies must invest heavily in providing specific delivery times, improving product quality and availability, freshness and error reduction. Consumer loyalty will drop; one mistake could result in a switch of allegiance from one online service to the other. DataMonitor suggests that by 2014 online sales will make up 5.2% of the UK food and grocery sales; however this is more likely to come from existing online shoppers, so the battle for market share is highly competitive. The likelihood of new entrants increasing the market share is low but taking a share from other competitors is almost inevitable. Since the DataMonitor report in 2010, Mintel produce a report in September 2011, with some interesting results. Mintel suggests that the growth of the sector depends largely on who can capitalise on the potential pool of demand. The report indicted that 13% of adults have never shopped online, but would like to. According to the Office for National Statistics 8.71m adults in the UK had never used the internet in the first quarter of 2011, this represented 17.5% of the adult population. This compares with figures derived from the Labour Force Survey
which shows 40.78m who have used the internet, representing 82.2% of the population. So there is a huge pool of potential if any online grocer is able to get these shoppers online and active. Mintel also highlights that there is uncertainty in the profitability when it comes to operating a home delivery system while supporting a vast network of stores. Many of the leading online grocers are now encouraging shoppers to move online. The introduction of Ocado PLC, a company that is solely bases online, will be interesting to compare with the leading supermarket chains in terms of revenue and cost efficiency. (add link to revenue and cost efficiency chapter)
Objectives And Goals Objectives
Asda
Sainsbury’s
Tesco’s
Primary
To sell products online.
To sell products and promote people to eat healthy previously done with Jamie Oliver campaigns.
To find a way for the users to purchase there good’s online.
Secondary
Encouraging customer service, keeping customers up to date with offers, visitors to buy online and in store, make website usable for all consumers.
Encouraging customer service, keeping customers up to date with offers, visitors to buy online and in store, make website usable for all consumers, and encourage people to use their nectar cards.
Encouraging customer service, keeping customers up to date with offers, visitors to buy online and in store, make website usable for all consumers, and encourage people to use their Tesco’s club cards
brand colours, logo, new promotional placement,
brand colours, logo, new promotional placement,
brand colours, logo, new promotional placement,
Tertiary Comparison
The objectives for the supermarkets are all similar as they all offer similar products. Therefore
they are all there to make money. One of Sainsbury’s primary objectives is to promote their active kids campaign. They use celebrity endorsements such as Jamie Oliver to promote the brand. However David Beckham (ex England captain) will be the new front of Sainsbury’s promoting the active kids and Sainsbury’s. This is one of the only difference between the supermarkets.
Integration with marketing and business objectives The integration with marketing online and offline is kept the same as when the user is connecting on The
integration
with
marketing
and
business
the online website , the user will be faced with lots objectives are very similar for each site, as they are all of deals on banners or boxes which are located all looking to display the same things. Sainsbury’s, over the home screen. This is similar for Asda, Tesco’s and Asda all have similar if not the same Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s. For all the supermarkets business objectives. The only difference being is how it is possible for them to provide the users with each site decides to display the information, more adverts and banners this is because it is advertisements, content and promotions. . cheaper for the company. A good example of this is within each section on the website they have a list of all the different offers. The website integrates
with marketing objectives by providing the major campaigns as feature throughout the pages. The price offers online also relate to the featured campaigns, providing the users with incentives to purchase marketed goods and adding effectiveness to the overall campaign, measured through web analytics
and
traffic
diverted
through
these
channels. The one aspect in which Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco’s could improve on would be to encrypt there television adverts to their websites as this will make it a lot more interactive with the customers. Nonetheless on their television adverts there website is always included at the end of the advert, therefore if people want more information or to purchase the goods online they can do this via
the website, by displaying this it brings more traffic to the supermarkets website.
Five 5S’s Sell– Sainsbury’s provides opportunity to buy services and products online. They also provide gas and electricity price comparisons, which is done with British Gas to keep users on this site instead of going through another company. Serve- A way of purchasing product’s stress free online, by using Sainsbury’s quick and easy to navigate website.
Sell–Asda provides opportunity to buy services and products online. They also provide gas and electricity price comparisons, to keep users on this site instead of going through another company. Keeps attention focused on Asda brand and gives consumer the variety of services normally offered by a handful of competitors. By keeping the information given to the consumer relatively simple and completely related to the sale of the item, the consumer is much more likely to make a purchase as they are already in ‘purchase mode’ (Sheryl Sandberg, 2012) and therefore Asda is fulfilling the demand brought to them by the consumer.
Speak- . Information about products that
would be easy to read and understand by the customers. As the customer on Sainsbury’s website can rate and review the product how
Serve–easy use of purchasing tools serve the customer as a stress free environment is provided in which the user can buy wanted items, without having to leave the house.
the consumers feel about the product. Speak–tailored content in the form of items that the user Save- Customers save time when shopping online if they do it on a regular basis as the
user can use the shopping basket from the previous weeks and edit it if necessary for the following week. As it is done online the user
would be interested in (food products, fashion items or cookware utensils) user generated content also provides important information about how consumers feel about the products they bought from Asda in terms of the service, the purchasing process and the actual product
can sign up to receive emails for promotions, therefore they can personalise the email for the customer. This is a lot cheaper method than advets.
Save–The website saves the business money for creating individualised content in printed formats as the user can select personal preferences in regards to what they want from this service and how and when they receive these
Sizzle–the brand values are reinforced through the visual design of the site and content available on the site. Brand colour and text are consistent with that used in store as well as the overall style and feel of the site.
offers. Sizzle–the brand values are reinforced through the visual design of the site and content available on the site. Brand colour and text are consistent with that used in store as well as the overall style and feel of the site.
5S’s Continued Sell- the website provides a way to lead users to buy their products through a simple
As the Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s are all
navigation leading to an end purchase.
in the same sector, they will all have similar
objectives. Therefore the 5S’s (sell, serve, Serve- the website has fairly quick speed and
speak, save and sizzle) for each company are
is constantly updated with information
near enough going to be the same for each
regarding special offers and product
company. The only differences are is how the
information.
website’s operate and they layout in which they have them. Even though they target the
Speak- It sends personalised offers relevant to
same people they all focus on one main area.
the customer through email from the data it
Sainsbury’s aim to offer better customer
collects through the clubcard and the website.
service and sell premium products whilst Asda
Also on the Facebook page Tesco announces
aim to be the cheapest retailer. Tesco’s are in
special offers that are only told through the
the middle as they aim to be cheap but also
Facebook page so users are gaining the
sell premium products.
benefit of saving money or extra reward points, and Tesco gain more followers on it.
Save- because the website offers a favourites section of the website and the multisearch option; time is saved for the consumer. It also saves the physical time of travel to and around stores.
Sizzle- other than aesthetically the website has little differentiation from the competitors in terms of site design and structure, however this is more down to the complex nature of the site rather than the lack of creativity and knowledge.
Online Value Proposition Asda
Tesco’s
By closely linking their OVP to brand positioning,
Tesco’s website is based around what it would be in
Asda has succeeded in capturing attention of site visitors; it’s obvious that this is an Asda site through colour, wording and font across the page. It also shows the different
store. Convenience. It uses favourites to store previous orders / FMCGs that are ordered on a regular basis. Also uses its personalisation of the Clubcard to recommend specific offers to the user
sections which they do such as electrical, grocery, fashion, financial and comparison price
.
instead of them having to seek them out
services OVPs for different audiences is visible through the offers, highlighted in either red or yellow, on
Comparison
each section. Those wishing to shop solely for
Asda focus on their price comparison as they aim
clothing may do so easily, reducing time needed
to be cheaper than the competitors such as
to search the site for a desired item therefore
Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s. Whilst Sainsbury’s
increasing the value of the site for each user.
focus on selling quality products and offering a quality customer service. They also offer a rating
Sainsbury’s Using online delivery the user can choose the time and the date in which they want it to be delivered they also offer a next day delivery options. Offering a brief explanation about the products online also customers can rate the products using a star rating and comments. This gives other customers an insight on the products which they are purchasing, and also shows all the different things Sainsbury’s do such as energy plans, recipes, store locator and active kids.
scheme which Asda and Sainsbury’s have but Tesco’s don’t this too is useful for other customers so they can get feedback on what other customers think of the items. Tesco’s aim to offer online convenience, with their online search engine users can type in everything they are looking for and select the items that way.
Customer Orientation The customers that Supermarkets with online websites target are ages from 16 onwards, as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s offer a wide range of products from food products to- services, When they get to the age of 16 they can sign up for a bank account so they can make
payments online. Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s
audiences
through the
are
segmented
different product lines:
insurance, health and beauty, baby and toddler, credit cards, travel, electronics etc. The foremost objective of the sites is obviously to sell products, but within
that objective, Asda must keep their site consistent with consumer needs. Asda is known for cut price offers and keeps this pull factor as the staple of the
The three supermarket sites are very much customer
website
the most
orientated as it fulfils not only the basic needs of the user
important pieces of information given on
(providing information about the products for sale). With
each product (the benefits of a site
the
should never be buried), maintaining
demographics they mustn’t ignore a specific target
similarity for consumers shopping in the
audience. Through the use of a rotating banner on the
store as well as the site.
homepage, Asda are able to provide relevant information
and
is
one of
supermarkets
having
such
large
groups
of
for a larger proportion of the target markets, yet these markets are ranked by importance for the company (fashion target market compared to grocery shoppers). If the supermarkets tried to target each segment at the same level of importance the site would become cluttered and slow in terms of download speed, accessibility and navigation and the main campaign messages would be diluted by the surge of information.
Customer Orientation Continued Asda
and
Tesco’s
can
gather
feedback
from
customers about there website or problems they may
In some weird sense this would be a form of
have. Unlike Sainsbury’s the only way of them gaining
primary research as they will be able to record
feedback at the moment is someone emailing/writing
any problems that come up on a regular basis.
in to head office, therefore the users of the Sainsbury’s
The only element of consumer segmentation is
online website won’t feel like the feedback will be
that which is used by the personalisation where
taken into account. By implementing a form of communication doing this Sainsbury’s can create a
competitive advantage. With Sainsbury’s current form of feedback the response time is going to be a lot longer. Unlike Asda and Tesco’s where the user can speak to customer service/help line when ever one is available on line. Tesco’s have people the user can
specific offers will be sent via email to the consumers based on their history with the brand. But also the emails that the user subscribe to when signing up to the site. However with the websites the user should be able to select the boxes of information and promotions that they
would like to receive for example some users may not want to receive promotion from the toy
speak to under different sections, unlike Asda which is
sections therefore they can opt out of receiving
specific to the whole site. Therefore Sainsbury’s in the
emails from that particular section.
future should improve their service by splitting up the sections and having staff available for customers to speak to them.
Persuasion – Value of Content The value of the content is all reliable and trusted as Sainsbury’s have gained a good reputation and have
Unilever e-commerce director Andy Houghton
many brand loyal customers who shop online. This is because Sainsbury’s pride themselves on offering good
customer service. However this is similar for Asda and Tesco’s as they have many brand loyal customer’s who keep shopping there on a regular basis. They also own a bigger market share that Sainsbury’s. (Mintel 2010) Online shoppers are "up to 15% more brand loyal" and spend more on the Internet than when shopping at physical retail outlets, Unilever e-commerce director
Andy Houghton” On the other hand Sainsbury’s disagree as they think consumer’s compare the prices between other competitors. (Dean Best 2011)
Asda pride themselves on being cheaper they would receive more sales online than any other food retailer. As Asda’s website is very frugal in comparison to the Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s website where they subtly put the deals on. This is because Sainsbury’s are more of a premium website. Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco’s all have the same target markets., however within in that that target market they all target a slightly different consumer. Asda would target more of the family’s who are on a budget, Sainsbury’s would target market the premium customers and Tesco’s would try and reach the families on a budget but also try and make it a premium product/ service website. Therefore each super market will use a different value of persuasion..
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA) Asda
Tesco’s
A – The site grabs attention of the user with
A- The site grabs the attention of the users with the
white background and vibrant graphics/ banner
banner across the top as it is bright and stand outs, this
advertising. The movement of the banner
provides a clear understanding to the user on what the
provides clear information on new marketing
promotion/advert is for.
campaigns underway and the OVP is clearly
I- The incentives for why the user should click on the
visible through the price cut images across the
banner are very well shown. However they are written
whole site.
briefly so the user doesn’t have to spend a while looking
I – Incentives are given once the attention of the
at the banner.
user is fixated upon the campaigns or offers, this
D- the desire is implemented through the banner and site
is usually in the form of discounted goods or the
with images that everyone wants' to see. As it is
use of very well known brands (Harry Potter,
approaching Christmas at the moment a lot of the adverts
ITV)
are linked in with that, it is like Tesco are trying to meet
D –Desire is implemented through the use of
every criteria of Christmas for example the food and
images that display how these products can look
presents.
in real world setting. For example the use of
A- It is very easy to purchase the product as when you
mince pies as a visual aid for the Christmas
click on a link. The link then takes the user to a direct link
campaign.
to find the best suitable thing under that category that they
A – Easy purchasing options are available
have clicked on.
throughout the website and when viewing one product the option is available to just place the item in the shopping basket, thus creating a simple
and
environment.
stress
free
simulated
retail
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA) Continued Sainsbury’s Attention- The first thing the user see’s when going
onto the site is the banner with the latest deals which changes section every few seconds. This brings attention to the latest deals Sainsbury’s have to offer, in between the deals there is a season section or an event section. Interest- as there is not that much writing on the homepage it makes it a lot more interesting to look at. But also down the bottom of the page there is many different sections that the users can view such as the recopies. Which is also allocated at the top but in smaller section and not giving the customer as much insight as the tab at the bottom of the page does. Desire- The desire is expressed in the photos as they all look very premium, with a lot of the images linked in with some other product, this may encourage people to
purchase a thing that they didn’t think they would need to purchase. Which would increase the sales for Sainsbury’s Action- When you click onto one of the deals it gives you a list of all the offers on the banner. This enables the user to be able to select the item and purchase it.
All the website’s have a very similar objectives and one of those is is to sell products and make a profit. Therefore the way they design their website is all quite
similar.
As
they all
follow
the
same
procedures .For example the user clicks on a link, takes them to the section, from that section they clicked on allows them to pick the product or service that they want and it gets added into the basket. Therefore this creates a simple and stress
free simulated retail environment. Which will then encourage shoppers to keep using them (stay brand loyal) . One of the only difference is the way they divide up there page design Sainsbury's don’t cover up the whole row unlike Asda and Tesco’s However they all do have the option of
clicking onto different
sections to see what the deals are on, this is useful as it saves time for the user so they don’t have to wait for each banner to finish or search for the product. With the use of the adverts/promotion and banners it may give customer an insight into all the different types of products the supermarket’s sell that they didn’t realise that they sold them. Another reason
why it is useful is they may not realise they need/wanted it until the promotion appeared, which is a good way of refreshing the shoppers memory.
Personalised Content and Data Base Integration As Social media (Twitter, Facebook) is being used When the user is on the Tesco’s, Asda or
regularly by a lot of online users these three sites
Sainsbury’s website in the top right hand corner
each have there own social media site which gives
there is a register/logged box the user would then click on the one that is applicable to the user .To register it will ask for some basic information that
won’t take long to fill out.
As this gives the
supermarket an insight on the background of the customer. The user can edit their settings to
followers the chance to find out more information about the store or an update on the latest
promotion, this is a very good free tool for the Supermarkets to use. Database integration will give each consumer a personalised view of the site (products last bought,
integrate the Tesco’s club card or the Nectar card
similar
if shopping with Sainsbury’s therefore the online
purchased, offers available that consumer may
users can still get the rewards of the loyalty card. However Asda currently don’t have a loyalty card, however they offer a lot of discount and promotions on their website. Having online shopping is a great free way of a company receiving some primary research as Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s and Asda can see what people are buying and then see if there is a common
trend
in certain areas such as
demographics. In the future Asda should start have loyalty cards as they will be able to pick up a lot of data which will be useful for them therefore they can capitalise on the areas that they are weak on. If the customer is an existing customer and the user has there cookies turned on it will save the user name and possibly the password and then from that the user can sign on a complete the task
that they went on the site for.
products
benefit from).
to
what
has
already been
Personalised Content and Data Base Integration Continued The data base integration is very similar for each company, this is because they all want to receive the same information like the common trends on what people are buying. Therefore by doing this they can target that market by sending them out a specific email to a product that they may be interesting in purchasing. Because if a company sends out a lot of emails, then the customer won’t look at them as they will think it is junk mail. If Asda created a loyalty card they would be able to receive more data in store and online. As at the moment the only data they can get is from what the customer has previously brought online. Unlike Sainsbury’s (nectar) and Tesco’s (club card) they can find out what the customer is purchasing in store. It is good that all three of the supermarket’s are using social media as they can inform the customers directly by posting/twitting some news or promotions on there wall therefore the users may be more tempted to purchase goods from there website.
Web Analytics “Back in June Sainsbury's reported a 20 per cent growth in their online grocery sales for the first quarter Web analytics are used to check if the
of 2010, supposedly processing around 120,000
objectives of Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s
weekly online orders during this period.
websites
The
announcement came off the back of a major website
supermarkets would gain an insight to see
redesign in 2009, which aimed at simplifying the online
how long people spend on each page, then
processes and enhancing the overall user experience.”
what page the users goes on to next. This
(internet retailing 2010). By looking at this data people
allows the supermarkets to edit their website
can see that Sainsbury’s are very successful online
accordingly which will make it more user
and are expanding very quickly.
have
been
achieved.
This
friendly. The supermarkets can find this out by monitoring the traffic on the website, therefore if they have a lot of traffic on their site the y can compare it to the amount of users that purchase something off there site, therefore are many people going onto their website but not purchasing anything. The supermarket’s need to find out why they are not purchasing anything and then from that try and make it more user friendly. If they don’t have much traffic on their websites they need to analysis the website and find the reasons for it, such as may not be high enough on Google when they
search for there name, or the appearance, navigation and information on the site may not be good enough. Looking back on previous analysis on the website you can tell that Sainsbury’s have a lot of traffic as they change the offers on the home page on a regular basis and they are high up on Google if you type in something relevant too them.
Asda use a third party to analysis all their data, this is
shown in the policy section on the Asda website. All the three companies are going to have website analysis as they are constantly wanting to improve their site. However all three of the companies (Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s) all use a third party company this is because the website analysis only needs taking place every so often. Therefore they employ someone to do it for them. This will enable them professionally done.
to get it
“The average home page response time
for all the companies in the benchmark via the Last Mile peers was 8 seconds with 96% availability. Sainsbury’s web site
performed
slightly
below
Accessibility
the
download speed average at 8.7 seconds but exceeded the average availability ranking with a score of 98%.
Although
it
was
among
the
top
performers, Tesco secured the top spot with an average home page download of just 1.5 seconds and 99% availability” (internet retailing 2010). As this research was taking in 2010 Sainsbury’s may have increased their download
speed.
It
shows
that
Sainsbury’s could do with increasing their online download speed as this will enable
Asda invested £30m in 2004 in order to help
users to be able to search around their
disability customers find their way online.
website a lot quicker, therefore this may
The website is accessible for users in the sense that
Sainsbury’s
a. text is easily enlarged; b. the images are
stop
people
going
to
described using text label (for the benefit of blind
competitors like Tesco’s and Asda. Before people even complete the singing up for Tesco’s the user will be presented with options of accessibility. Some of the areas that the website currently meets are a colour blind viewing option which places lines under hyperlinks. Tesco’s
alternative
www.tesco.com/access accessed
by
people
website -
a
– easily
Asda site providing readily accessible content for deaf users, yet the use of pictures as visual aids alongside text helps users that are not strong readers. Sainsbury’s are yet to have anything for people with disabilities on there site in compression to Asda and Tesco’s . Therefore if a customer does need some of the
disability
tools
Asda
and
Tesco’s
have
vision
Sainsbury’s will lose out as they don’t give that
impairment, dyslexia or physical disability
service. Sainsbury’s in the future need to establish a
making mouse use difficult, and gains a
disability
four-star rating on AbilityNet’s five-star
customers.
scale.” (abilitynet 2004)
with
is
“Only
shoppers). Audible content is not included in the
controls, as they may attract more
Accessibility Continued
Asda site also runs in all browser formats
but mobile site is not good. Images around navigation bar not available, however to tackle this problem an app has been created to enable consumers to purchase
The Sainsbury’s application is just for collecting nectar points and for the user to receive coupons this is available
groceries from the company as well as comparing
the
prices
against
major
on the Android and IOS market and the OVI (Nokia app
competitors. The integration of the ‘Price
store). However it has not yet been realised on the
Guarantee’ app was considered to be a
Blackberry app world, If Sainsbury's put it up on the
different view for mobile users when
Blackberry app store it would reach another target market.
compared to competitors, and 60% of users
The Sainsbury’s application at the moment is a working
access the app through an iPhone (a key
process, hopefully soon they will allow customers to
demographic for all businesses) however
purchase their groceries from the store.
the Android app is set for much later release
(2012).
Tesco
only
offers
a
•A handy store locator:
transactional mobile app so this infers that
•Shop online from a huge choice and range of products,
Asda is trying to keep ahead of competition.
from furniture for your home or garden to toys and
By looking at the different applications for
electricals. However the user can not buy groceries with it but they are aiming to put it on the application •View hundreds of regularly updated offers •View the users Nectar points balance and Nectar information, 24/7.
each supermarket Asda look like they are a head and up to date with there applications unlike Sainsbury’s where you can’t actually purchase any groceries off the application. However Sainsbury’s have realised there is a problem with that and are trying to correct it. However
with
the
Sainsbury’s
application the user can check all the different deals that are on and this is not available with the Tesco’s app
which is very simple and basic idea where the user can just purchase items from the app store. Therefore in the future Tesco’s may think about editing so it shows all the latest deals and also allows them to view the Tesco’s club card points.
Primary Research The primary research was taking place using an online questionnaire website, where people fill it in. The link was then forward to many people and asked the other people to forward it on to more people, as this would improve the size of the question. The questionnaire air was about do people shop on online supermarkets? and if so what online supermarkets people shop at? The reason for them choosing to shop at that specific supermarket? This was done as a survey. The results
What Gender are you Males
Females
33% 67%
More females took part in the questionnaire than males.
A lot of people still shop in store or mostly in store. There is only a small percentage of people who always shop online. With the supermarkets constantly updating there website making it more suitable for online shoppers, more people will start shopping online. Plus even more people are beginning to think technology is more reliable and trusted
These are some of the common occurrences from people shopping using an online websites.
“More convenient, can find everything when i need it. Less likely to impulse buy and easier to work out offers/deals.”
“Quicker to use online shopping as you can use the previous week’s shopping items and select the items you need for the current week. “
Primary Research Continued
This shows that the most popular store that people shop online at is Tesco’s followed by Asda, this links into Mintel’s table on the market share previously mentioned in the magazine.
How would you improve the online supermarket site you use?
Below is a list of some of the common comments.
•make it a bit more exciting and less time consuming
•improve the search engine •More discounts for online shoppers only or double rewards points if applicable •Less categories as it is hard to find food •slightly less overwhelming homepage offers
The supermarkets could improve if they made the website more user friendly without all the flashy deals on the home page. If the deals were more subtle this may attract more people to using online shopping. Another aspect that they can improve on is making the navigation and search engine on the website better. If the Supermarkets took some of this information on board they may have more people using there online service.
How do you rate the online grocery website experience?
Poor 9.5
Average
9.5
Good very good 33.3 47.6
However going on how people would rate there online service a lot of people said that it was good. Therefore with the improvements that could be made the website satisfaction could rise to very good. At the moment in time the supermarkets are trying to update there websites to make it more user friendly, as this will help generate more sales online.
Site Personality Asda site personality is certainly more frugal than that of Ocado or Sainsbury's. Whilst the colour used is bright, eye-catching and not easily misinterpreted. The offers are all highlighted in red, as well as major campaigns being run by the company. With a white background there is no information easily lost and yet gives the website a very basic feel so the site is obviously aiming to be understood by a
Sainsbury's on the other hand has
very large audience. It also gives visual
much more personal engagement with
appeal to the site as the other colours
the consumer, and instead of being
used are vibrant and eye-catching for the
focused on money saving deals it is
user, and also encourage them to pay
noticeable that seasonal events take
attention to the items using those stand out colours. The essence of the Asda website is usability and accessibility for all users,
from the plain graphics used to decorate the site and the simplistic nature of the text. Asda, like many other retail sites, is an information intensive site as it makes the best use of the space available online to promote products and services.
much more of a stronghold over the design. Sainsbury's site is a mix between a graphic intensive site and information intensive because there is a
certain
amount
of
information,
relevant to the images displayed, and this prevents the site from looking too cluttered with text. The images used heavily rely on seasonal events, so the impression created is one of fresh British produce and service.
Tesco takes an altogether different approach in terms of a personality for their website. There is a much more contemporary feel to this site and trying to connect with consumers on a personal level seems to take a back seat when looking at the images and text used, and it’s probably fair to say that an emotional response test, just on the home page alone, would reveal very low results in terms of engagement. This kind of site design is a positive for Tesco in terms of the vast audience that they are trying to attract, and with total sales in the UK of around £7.5billion (Mirror, 2011.)it is obvious why their customer base should not be hugely segmented, proving that the website is consistent with target audience.
It can be construed that the Tesco website is graphic intensive in as much that they seem to use a large amount of images instead of text to provide information of campaigns and products on offer. This is
becoming somewhat of a problem for Tesco; getting onto the site is sometimes a very lengthy process and it’s become apparent that the site keeps crashing, perhaps to the vast amount of imagery used. Though Asda and Tesco are in direct competition with each other in terms of waging price wars, the approaches to site design, although similar in terms of content, are different when it comes to personality of the site and business. Both are effective in terms of targeting their audience (neither market the site too heavily in one direction) but the feel of the site is lacking in emotion. Sainsbury's excels in this area as the festive tones throughout the website portray a pride in the business and the nationwide seasons, whilst also keeping consistent with the target market .
As mentioned with site personality, Asda uses colours to provide a consistent character/ positioning to what is displayed in store (colour, offers and campaigns) which in turn keeps the target audience remaining comfortable with the brand and services/ products on offer. The visual design of the site provides balance in a sense that the branding is in line with the rest of the business and everything works well together (accessibility, usability and
Visual Design
persuasion). Emotive language is also kept to a minimum to keep the broad target market under the same influence, apart from when describing value of a product: ‘Asda Travel, it is all about choice at superb value prices’. The typography used on the site is consistent throughout the web pages, as well as being the same font used in Asda stores nationwide. This will give immediate recognition of the
brand for the consumer and reinforce brand ideologies and values. The text is all left and centre justified to ensure wide usability for all browsers and the use of images instead of text kept to a bare minimum (except for the branded campaigns like Christmas and Extra Special).
The visual design of Sainsbury’s is good because they use all elements of the screen, but they have done this without making the website look too cramped with information. They have styled it so the user can navigate themselves around the website with ease. Another good element about the website is they have a banner on the front screen which is ran by Java Script, they could improve this by putting this on each section showing the deals specific to those sections instead of making it so broad. When you visit the Sainsbury’s page you immediately know you are on the Sainsbury’s website as the customer
is presented with the orange, but also the website is designed like the Sainsbury’s basic range which implies that the Sainsbury’s website is easy to use. These colours have been used to revoke feelings from the user of warmth, yet they also reiterate the brand ideologies of passion for the produce and products available. However it still looks professional with the deals sliding through on the front page.
Tesco also keeps the colours used on their website the same as instore to keep consistency for the shopping formats used by Tesco
consumers. The use of a white background provides increased visual appeal for the page, as well as increased usability, and considering the scale of the target market this is beneficial for the brand. The contrast of other colour against this white background provides important issue framing for the campaigns and information on the website, and
as seen in below image, information that Tesco want to
heavily promote is displayed using an image background. Rotating image banners are used on all three supermarket sites and this is beneficial to all as they can diversify the target audiences using different campaign images on one page.
Typography on both the Asda and Tesco site
remained
constant
throughout
campaigns, pages and products, however Sainsbury’s differentiates the text on titles for products and information describing the products. This only helps Sainsbury’s in as much that they have a more premium brand image to uphold than to that of Asda and Tesco. The use of the rotating banners of each site reflects a one-two punch theory (Chaffey, D., 2010) whereby the attention of the user is grabbed using the powerful image and is then followed up using informative text. If using an eye tracking tool we would be able to view the frequency of
items
viewed
on
the
website
in
correlation to colours and graphics used. This tool would measure the usability of the site as well as the ability to understand the automatic consumer.
visual
processing
of
the
The use of Content Management Systems (CMS) is obviously needed when taking on a site as rich in content as Asda. The vast array of site sections (George, Asda Direct, Travel & Holiday
Page Design
etc) demands an organisational approach as well as a uniform design to ensure that the sections are consistent in approach to brand values and aesthetics. The brand name and logo are kept in the same position (see images to left), as well as the formatting for the navigation menus to ensure an ease of use for the consumer. Wireframes would be able to keep this consistent design for Asda so that the
content and navigational elements are not lost, but also in terms of the special offers content, which is usually displayed in the centre of Asda web pages.
The products are spread out across the entirety of the page (right, left and middle) in order to attract consumers from diverse audiences, as well as having the vast product range available through the site. An experiment
conducted
by
showed
that
increasing the content available on a page, and subsequently the time it takes to download it, decreased traffic and ad revenues on the website by 20% (King, A., 2008). The slow download ability of the site could also damage the perceived credibility and quality of this business. Sainsbury’s also keeps the formatting of each section in their website the same using the wireframe concept, and it seems to work effectively in as much that each page is very similar when looking at colours, fonts and logo/menu placement.
Although there is limited space available on retail websites, Sainsbury's has not come to an obvious solution to deal with this problem over the whole website. Some information provided for some of the services seems to be extremely lengthy in as much that the text doesn’t really need to be there. Keeping
information concise throughout the whole
website would ensure a larger penetration of the given information by the user, as they would be able to read more about said products if it was relevant to them. The overall structure is good, and there is readily available information about the company at the
end of the home page. Tesco once again follows the same format in terms of the use of a wireframe and CMS, but the financial services link takes a non-uniform approach which is slightly bewildering for the user. They provide two options for the user in terms of the route they would rather go down; Tesco Compare or Tesco Bank (follow this link to assess the option page). Asda seems to have the best attitude when it comes to designing a template for content to follow on the website as each service is differentiated with a twist on the classic branding of Asda. The gives the user a differentiation between the products on offer yet keeps a consistent flow, similar to that of Sainsbury's and Tesco.
Copywriting To analyse the supermarket websites, a simple tool has been adopted to assess the effectiveness for each business; CRABS. The written content on the Asda site follows the CRABS model, firstly it can be deduced that the headings are short, direct and relevant to products within that section, as well as the short sentence or list of
This scannability enables the user to quickly
products relating to the title. The relevance of the
access the products they want at the same
text in each section is vital for user; if content
time as increasing the diverse usability for all
was placed all over the site in places that display
users of the website. The brevity of these
no regular order then users would become
headings and product lists also determines
confused and frustrated with the site and shop
the usability of the text used, and by
elsewhere. This also ties in with site personality
increasing the usability the site increases the
as Asda are trying to cater for such a wide
audience and need to be understood at a very basic user level. By displaying all of this content in succinct chunks the user is able to scan the data presented in a manner that presents the most accurate product for what they are looking for.
value of this service. Chunking, together,
brevity
Sainsbury’s
and do
scalability
go
this
as
well
everything on their site has titles and subtitles with a brief information, if there is too much reading some customers may turn and use a competitors website, as they don’t want to be
stuck on a website for too long. However all the information given must be relevant for the item, and it is important that Sainsbury’s don’t use internal jargon that someone customers may not understand what Sainsbury’s are trying to say. (cont..)
It is also important that Sainsbury’s copy write their search engine which indexes the words you use in your copy, therefore when a customer types in a word it is easy to find what they are looking for. For example if you type in pizza, it comes up with a list of all the pizzas and the prices with a little bit of a description what is in the pizza. The one thing Sainsbury’s do well is the recognition if the customer makes a spelling mistake it automatically searches for a similar product. However if the customer uses Google chrome it often corrects or informs the user that they have made a spelling mistake. All the information on the website must be credible and loyal as this will keep customers because you are giving them good honest information. If the user cheats and don’t put correct information customers will start using Sainsbury’s competitors. Tesco use this format as well, so all information displayed on the site
is relevant to the
positioning, short and succinct, accurate in quality and easily scannable by the user to see if the information is of relevance to them. Tesco
seems to have the most successful website for copywriting technique; each menu or
product sub menu describes the content within a few manageable words to cut down on branded jargon (as seen below). Company language (that only staff would be able to decipher) is not included in any of these sites, and it is fair to say there is strong and weak points to every site.
Security Online ‘Retailers are rarely experts in the security of online transactions’ describes Tony Parnell, yet Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's seem to be fairing relatively well in terms of keeping consumer details safe. Due to being such high profile businesses in the grocery market, certain steps have been taken to ensure that all details are not intercepted or misused by others, and the first step is through encrypting the data used to process sales through the supermarket websites. All three of the supermarkets use secure connections when browsing the site if the user is logged into their account, and a small padlock icon (see image) is visible in the URL box at the top of the browser to give users peace of mind when shopping online. Authentication is also required to process payments through user logins, just to give an extra piece of added security for the customer and to try and prevent fraudulent orders taking place online.
Dynamic Design & A major advantage for these websites having an online presence is the ability to personalize the content shown to each user through an email log
in. Asda uses these unique customer log-ins to target products in individualistic profiles to ensure the highest susceptibility of products online, and to hopefully generate more sales. The option of ‘remembering’ the user on computers provides an individualized shopping experience
as well as
giving the consumer the option to delete the cookie. These benefits ensure that Asda gives their target market a seamless online shopping
Sainsbury’s have Cookies on their website
experience according to preferences arranged by
which allows Sainsbury’s to store peoples
the user. Previous purchasing decisions are also
information like account information however
recorded by the sites database, so similar
it is a safe method it just saves time for
products that may attract the users attention are
customers so they don’t have to constantly
displayed when they next log in. For example; a
update their information, therefore the site is
mother of young children who had previously
more personalised for the customer trying to
bought baby items could view her special offers page and see offers relating to her choices (as shown
in
top
‘recommendation’
centre process,
image). or
This
collaborative
filtering’, provides Asda with insightful data into how their customers behave on the website and also into the frequency and affect these filtering methods have
use the website. On the other hand if customers are worried about their information being kept they can stop Cookies with ease. The Sainsbury’s website is personally in the section of selling as you can look at previous shopping baskets and select goods from that to use in the following week therefore it makes it convenient for customers to use also it recommends items that they may also want to have.
Personalisation Tesco has a similar level of dynamic personalisation in as much that the user must create a log in account before being able to purchase goods from the
website. This collected data is given to Tesco to record the visitors to the site in the form of cookies, and the site also has the option of remembering the visitors, providing a degree of control and personalization for the user. Tesco users are also given the option to register their Clubcard, so data that has been collected on that service can be integrated with the online channel in order
to
provide
further
extensive
personalisation.
All the three websites use consumer preferences, which gives them geodemographic information, and from data about the consumers purchases allow them to do so, also the use of a favourites section such as tescos have creates direct data from the user allowing further personalisation. With this data, individual user specific emails can be sent out which address them directly, offer them something that they are interested in and even relevant to the local area where they live. Sainsbury's seem to have the most comprehensive grasp on personalised web access, with services ranging from My Details, My Orders and My Recipes (see below image). These options give a truly dynamic edge to the services on offer in comparison to the other supermarkets as Adsa and Tesco seem to have the basic tools available (cookie tracking options and previous orders).
Information Architecture Navigation is key to ease of
use online by the consumers and because all three of these businesses
are
popular
nationwide, the structure of the sites
becomes
vital
business
for
enforcing
brand
to
driving
the
sales,
image
and
building traffic on-line. Asda has Menus with clear
headings
allow
easy
navigation around the site and provide clear information as to what
each
website
section
contains.
through
the
of
There
clarity
the is,
If the site is easy to use the customers will continue to shop on
of
the website and the site navigation for Sainsbury’s is very easy
information provided, a clear
as everything has clear
emphasis
content types
involves a drop down box to choice from or just click on it and it
available through the website
will direct the customer to a new link. By keeping it simple it
and an obvious visual hierarchy
means the user will not find it hard to navigate themselves
on
of the sections on the website. Marketing prioritised
messages on
the
site
are in
relevance to the campaign and date. Asda A-Z search tool creates a succinct search for the
user,
cutting
potential
frustrations with site design and also time for the consumer.
and easy titles to read, which just
around the page. It must also be consistent because if it keeps changing it gets confusing for the customer; therefore they need a similar page layout and template for each page. Sainsbury’s also have signposts this lets the user know what section of the site they are on. The navigation for Tesco’s is quite simplistic in finding the product you are looking for. Within each subheading a drop down menu gives a more specific links to the product that you are looking for. For example if you are looking for a tikka masala sauce you look under cooking sauces and a specific link is there for Indian sauces.
Interaction Interaction
with
Asda
is
largely
encouraged, whether in minute doses like clicking on a picture to gain information or asking a direct question via a specialised service and getting The depth of these sites also varies quite a lot, for example, it has been suggested that a retail site should not take a customer more than 3 clicks to be provided with information about purchasing a product. The Sainsbury's site, although targeted at
a slightly wealthier demographic than the other two, takes far to long to navigate a consumer to the product information and although the flow of the site works well, this is a major error. The Tesco and Asda sites however do provide a much speedier degree of flow in terms of delivering the consumer to relevant information in an efficient way. Perhaps
the more shallow structure has been selected for Asda and Tesco due to the nature of the target audience and the vast market. The speed at which the user can select the area of the website they are looking for also improves the value of the site for the consumer, and Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco’s navigational menus all provide satisfactory functionality. Sainsbury’s content for navigational menus is superior overall however, and this is because the wording used in said menus characterised the products available into a real life application.
the answer direct. The volume of drop down boxes is what eases the user into this integration with the website, but then Asda gives over control to the user
of
when
products
can
be
delivered, and who too and this product
selection
delivered
using
is a
likely Rich
to
be
Internet
Application (RIA). By asking the user to
tailor
data
for
themselves,
essentially handing over the reins of a nationwide service, the user places trust in Asda as a brand and delivers a compelling internet experience.
Sainsbury’s have made their website interactive
feedback and rate it out of stars and by doing
Interaction
this Sainsbury’s customers will feel they play a
Cont...
because on some products customers can leave
part in the company as active stakeholders. The other
techniques
Sainsbury’s
use
is
the
selection from drop down boxes on the menus and typing requirements into a box and then searching the site for the product that they are looking for. Sainsbury’s are also very interactive with their recipes as you can click and add recipes into the section of the user, therefore they end up having their own recipe book for
There is a high level of interaction with Tesco’s website which is why the navigation and structure has to be simple and straight forward, as well as being accessible for the vast demographic. Moving the cursor over the links provides access to a variety of dropdown boxes and an internal
free, but also give a level of control and
search feature. A Multisearch option
integration with the business and provides a
allows
valuable experience for the user. There is also
shopping list into the website making
interaction from Sainsbury’s to the customer for
it more convenient that repeatedly
the privacy setting’s as the individual using the
searching.
page can read through them easily but also can
All sites make available support tools
choice whether they want the offer’s coming
for their customers, and these come
through to them by email.
in the form of FAQ pages and, like
the
user
to
input
their
Asda, an interactive question window providing direct contact with the organisation. Therefore it seems that Asda has a much higher level of interactivity within the site as all the products and services they offer
encourage a much higher level of enthusiasm by the user.
Data Collection Asda specifically details in their privacy
Strict compliance with data protection is
policy how they collect data from their
undertaken
website, whether it be for improvement
Sainsbury’s and all describe how the
of service or market research. Sensitive
information given through registration
data is collected only to improve the
forms, purchasing and contact with the
service the company gives to the user ,
company
yet if they are given data about another
given to the customer. Data is also used
person by the site user then agreement
for
has been given to contact either person
market research
in the manner outlined. Asda also uses
and preferences, but by signing up to the
information
collected
provide
site the user is giving permission for the
marketing
communications
from
businesses, and third parties, to use
to
themselves as well as group companies and partners, but this data is also used for market research in the into the
Sainsbury's policies on data collection do vary from that of Asda however the
information is not as readily available on the website. There are so many different and
subheadings
that
Sainsbury's are in danger of confusing their customers overload.
Asda,
with an information
Tesco
and
help to improve the service
marketing
communications
and
into consumer habits
personal information in this manner. The positive side for the consumer is that the data is de-personalised before being sent out to other companies.
industry and service.
headings
by
This means that all of these supermarkets must
S.E.O.
analyse the analytic data provided by the search engines to see how they should optimize these websites, as well as using a ‘keyphrase analysis’
Engine
according to the intent of the searcher. Another
Optimization for these three companies it is
insight into how these businesses are performing on
apparent, mostly due to the similarity of the
search engines would be ‘performance analysis’,
target audiences, that they keywords and key
which will provide key data being collected into both
phrases used for ranking do not differ very
PPC and organic listings, and after this analysis
When
looking
into
the
Search
much. Both Asda and Sainsbury's use the business name as first ranking keyword, but after that a mix of grocery shopping, online grocery shopping and online supermarkets. The only major difference in the style of the keywords used is that Sainsbury's use a much wider variety of words that include contact lenses, telecommunications and community.
performing a strategic selection of phrases. The most important aspect of this SEO for all three supermarkets is traffic building and so by getting to the top of both the PPC and organic listings, the supermarkets have a lot to gain in terms of exposure. Whilst Ocado remains top of the PPC search terms, this is probably due to the fact that
they have no physical store and demand this online presence to remind people they are there. The three
This differentiation adopted by Sainsbury’s may
supermarkets in this report however use varieties of
cause some harm however; when searching
solutions to this ranking problem; external linking
Google for online supermarkets
(please see
and internal link-structures, and this builds up the
link) Sainsbury’s doesn’t appear in the paid
pages in use by the supermarket yet also demands
advertising section and can only be found
more attention from the web crawlers to determine
towards the end of the organic listings. Whilst
the ranking position of the companies.
this technique gives Tesco and Asda the better
It appears that Asda has the most obvious solution
position on the ranking for that keyword,
to dealing with SEO as such a nationwide brand, and
Sainsbury's has tried to be ranked for other
they include not only grocery but entertainment,
useful terms, but this gamble has not paid off –
electricals and furniture as part of their key phrases
when
to achieve broad yet effective SEO.
searching
for
contact
lenses
or
community Sainsbury’s is not even on the first page (for paid advertising (PPC) or organic listing). An article published on Living Streams Digital
Consultancy website details how the
supermarkets are most certainly missing out on the rich benefits SEO can bring a business, and this is all down to failing to optimise their web pages for popular search terms.
Apps Mobile apps are becoming more and
integrates
more common as the development of
which works in store rather than online.
Smartphone's
The
Sainsbury's may not have a bar code
supermarkets apps allow consumers to
scanner function but they do offer a store
shop online via the website but in an
locator and recipes. (Tesco do offer
easier format to the phones.
The
recipes but only for the iPad). Each one of
Tesco app not only scans barcodes, it
these apps does offer some positive
also allows the user to control their
differentiation from another but they all
online
(Trenholm,
need to take there missing aspects; such
2011). The Asda app also now offers
as Sainsbury's do need a barcode scanner
the bar scanner function and it also
to integrate with their site.
shopping
increases.
order
the
Asda
price
guarantee
Integration with social media All three businesses use social media in a very similar way, all of them promote special offers to their followers and they set up competitions to gain consumer generated content such as the Asda campaign below. They also use it to gain insight from their consumers, for example Tesco ask consumers which songs remind the
Instead of having to use a research campaign
consumers of Christmas.
that costs a lot of money, they get a lot of responses for one question meaning they can use the
insight
when
advertising
back
to
the
consumers. In addition to this they have their own Youtube channel in which they show footage of their campaigns and ways in which to help the consumer, although Tesco's hasn’t been used recently and is outdated. Asda also have their own blog on the site in which they can communicate and interact with the consumers.
Loyalty cards Both Sainsbury’s and Tesco have a loyalty card which can be used both offline and online however Asda do not have this level of personalisation. Tesco do have a benefit that they do not have to pay for their data as they own their Clubcard database. On the other hand Sainsbury's are part of a loyalty scheme that they sponsor and also supply to. Although they do have to costs to use the scheme it; in 2010 it was announced that the nectar card database had surpassed The Tesco Clubcard in membership (marketing week). This means Sainsbury's have a larger consumer database that they can provide a level of personalisation to. By using the loyalty cards both Tesco and Sainsbury’s can collect data that gives a greater level of personalisation than Asda could, such as special offers and recommendations specific to the needs of each consumer. For Asda to compete on personalisation with either of them they should definitely create their own loyalty method.
Cost Management The main operating cost in online grocery is the last point of contact between the retailer and the consumer. With fuel prices, ever rising, there is no
especially with perishable item, in the correct
doubt that running of a delivery service can be
temperature will result in loss, as customer will be
much more expensive than operating a store.
well within their rights to demand a refund. The
However, as it was outlined before this can be
reason the UK is at the front runner in internet
levelled out, if you can tap into the large population
shopping is due to the high population densities,
of internet users that, have not yet shopped online.
this helps reduce delivery costs and the high
Fulfilment is detrimental in the online grocery
commercial property costs. This leads to higher
retailing. Retailers may decide to take a more cost-
gross margins being charged for food in the UK.
conscious approach and go with a click-and-collect
Treasure argues that, in mature markets like the
proposition, which is much more profitable.
UK, orders need to equating to a total of around
Will Treasure, director of operations and technology
GBP100 to make home delivery profitable for
consulting at Javelin Group, explains, how food
retailers. According to Lucht, for price-sensitive
presents additional complexity compared to non-
markets, the click-and-collect model might be a
food. Treasure says the nature of food with
much more viable option.
ambient, frozen and chilled products, requires
For stores like Tesco’s, Asda and Sainsbury’s
retailers to develop their own costly delivery
running a multi-channel business model where
networks as third party distributers are unlikely to
stores are run as spokes for customers in store
be able to meet these demands. This often requires
and online, they reduce the cost and can reach
a higher expense in the purchase of transport, from
out to more customers. It does not increase the
suppliers to delivery vans, if food is not kept,
cost of opening a new warehouse or altering their distribution network.
Revenue Paypal reported in 2006 that UK online groceries will make £6.25 billion in sales by 2010, an increase of 235% over their revenues from the previous year. In 2010, IGD reported, the online grocery market accounted for 3.2% of total grocery spend in the UK. The figure is expected to increase to 5.4% by 2015. Research conducted by IGD, the international food and grocery analyst, reported that online grocery shopping is set to double to £9.9bn in the space of years as more manufacturers and retailers, including butchers, consider building their own e-stores. IGD found that online sales are the fastest growing sector in the grocery market. Sales figures from last year show an increase of 21.4%. comScore Networks said Tesco.com managed to obtain two thirds of all online grocery orders in the first seven months of this year, generating sales of approximately £2.5 million per day. Its closest competitor was Asda online, which took 16%, followed by Sainsburystoyou.com with 14%. Sainsbury's customer, however, spent the most per order, averaging almost £90 compared to £80 for both Tesco and Asda. Sainsbury's and Asda’s online shoppers also bought more items per order, with both averaging 69 items per order which was 11 items more than Tesco. Tesco online sales reached almost £1 billion last year, which contributed to the total earnings of £38.3 billion. Sainsbury’s reported its results for the year to March 19 2011. It said its pre-tax profits rose by 12.8% to £827m, from £733m at the same time last year, on revenue, including fuel, up by 5.7% to £21.1bn. Excluding fuel, total sales grew by 4.9% in the year to March 19, while like-for-like sales grew by 2.3%. Sainsbury’s have reported that online grocery sales increased by more than 20% in its latest financial years. Sainsbury’s now deliver more than 130,000 online grocery orders each week, and can reach more than 93% of UK households through its 187 stores. Asda forecasted back in 2008 that its online sales in food and non-food will reac £1bn by 2011. The supermarket planned to bring together the general merchandise and grocery home delivery businesses together as part of its multi-channel strategy, headed by Tony Prescott, multi-channel director. Asda said it is expanding online food as it planned to increase its coverage to 95% of UK households this year and is launching a new website in the second half. “The 50% growth in online food year-on-year is coming from many areas including the rollout activity of additional home shopping stores,” Asda told Talking Retail. “We’ve also improved our product availability, increased online ranges and made improvements to the usability of the asda.com website. “We are also re-designing our in-store processes to ensure improved availability and overall service and we will be launching a brand new website with improved functionality in the second half of this year.”
Revenue cont.
Ratings Category
Site personality: sainsburys gets 3 stars, asda gets 2 and tesco 1 Visual design: sainsburys 3, asda 2 tesco 1 Page design; asda 3 tesco 2 sainsburys 1 Copywriting; tesco 3 asda 2 sainsburys 1 Dynamic design and personalisation; Sainsburys 3 asda 2 tesco 1 Information architecture; tesco 3 asda 2 sainsburys 1 Interaction; asda 3 sainsburys 2 tesco 1 Data collection and privacy policy; asda 3 tesco 2 sainsburys 1 SEO asda 3 tesco 2 sainsburys 1 Obviously this needs to look better but i wasn’t sure the way you wanted to do the rest of the ratings, but here’s my scores. I’ll try do the frame for the group log tonight as well. The conclusion should be the total of the ratings; who scored best and why, but also the affect of new technology and where the market is likely to head in terms of new technologies MATT – can you rate apps and social media integration etc
Conclusion The only difference between the aims and objectives is that Sainsbury’s target themselves a lot more by helping the local community with Active kids, which they give out vouchers to hand to schools when people purchase items. The vouchers then get sent to the local school which allows them to purchase sporting equipment.
• http://www.justfood.com/news/onlineshoppers-more-brand-loyalsays-unilever_id117089.aspx
http://academic.mintel.com/sina tra/oxygen_academic/search_r esults/show&/display/id=54520 1/displaytables/id=545201 http://www.abilitynet .org.uk/enation4
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http://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/asda-targets-1bn-in-online-sales