I’ve previously tried to shop online at Pick n Pay and for some reason all their delivery slots for that week were booked and unavailable. After that, I haven’t tried it out again. Until this week. It was announced that their new online shopping website was launched to work alongside their app. And when I saw “free delivery until 31 October”, I raced online with my shopping list clutched tightly in my hand (normal delivery fee is R80… and in my books, that’s pricey).
Getting Started: Grocery Shopping Online
I don’t recall entirely how the online shopping interface looked when I first created a profile. So it felt like I was shopping online with Pick n Pay for the first time. While there are many functionalities that worked just about fine, there are some things that could be refined a little.
I’m going to start off with what I liked about my experience:
- I can leave a message/note for the picker who will be picking my groceries. I loved this because the fresh milk doesn’t display expiry dates, and naturally I choose the milk with the latest/furthest expiry. So I left a note about picking according to that (and she did!).
- I only get debited once the groceries have been picked and packed (which takes place the evening/night before your chosen delivery date).
- I could view all the items on sale/promotion at once, and shop from there as well.
- When viewing my trolley, at the end of my shopping, the items are sorted according to Fresh foods, Household, etc. I love anything that is categorised so I was impressed with this layout. It makes finding items easier on your list.
- I have an option to purchase bags or not. It’s excellent news for those of us who want to cut out on using plastic so much.
- All items came sealed in a box that was opened by the delivery men. You have to sign for the groceries and confirm that they came sealed in a box.
- The invoice I received upon delivery listed exactly which items were packed in which box. The fresh foods were in a separate coloured box from the rest. Organisation was on-point.
Here’s where I think there’s room for improvement:
- After logging in and browsing from my account, many links on the footer menu (at the bottom of the page) when clicked on took me back to the login screen where I was required to login all over again.
- Items only show as ‘Out of stock’ after selecting to add it to the basket. This would be great if it could show up before giving the option to add it.
- When viewing my trolley, all my items were selected (by default) as “Find a suitable alternative” should the item not be available. I felt that this option should not have been default. Thankfully you can mass select them to not be replaced with an alternative.
- Some products did not have all the necessary details. For example, when purchasing black bin bags, I want to know how thick they are and what size they are. These details are found on the product itself but the image online isn’t a close-up. So when buying the bin bags, I kind of took a guess (it was a good guess – the correct pack arrived).
- Actually, most products didn’t have precise descriptions. If you’re someone who already knows the products you use inside out, shopping online would be a breeze. If you’re looking to try something new, don’t go with this option. Visit the store rather.
- The order confirmation email doesn’t state that your debit goes off only once the groceries have been packed. For a long while I thought something was wrong with my credit card so I called the helpline where they told me that the debit will go off the night before the delivery date is set.
- My invoice (online) showed that I paid for delivery, and also did not show that I used my Smart Shopper points to get a discount. This made me wonder if in fact there was an error – that I was actually paying for delivery and that my points did not work.
- I chose a delivery time of between 11 am and 12 pm as I intended to bake and be done by 1 pm. The groceries arrived after my chosen time slot. Unfortunately there isn’t any communication between the delivery guys and the customer so it’s a waiting game if they’re late.
Shopping for groceries online is a cool perk for those of us whose days are just so busy. In total, I managed to do my weekly shopping and pay for it in under 40 minutes – which is excellent, considering I didn’t need to physically drive anywhere, find parking, wipe trolley handles with hand sanitiser wipes, browse through isles, find a queue that’s the shortest and moving the quickest, wait in line to pay, or carry bags to the car.
To Sum Up
Pick n Pay’s online grocery shopping is nearly there to being perfect.
How would I rate my experience?
6/10.
Would I shop again with PnP?
Yes, but it won’t be my first option. This experience made me realise that I may actually prefer to view and inspect my groceries before buying them.
Nicky
Yours is the first review I’ve read of Pick n Pay’s online shopping option. Good points to note for future 🙂
Saajida Akabor
Thanks! If you try it out, I’d love to know how your experience went 🙂
Pick n Pay
Hi Saajida
Thank you for giving the new Pick n Pay Online shop a try, and for sharing your experience here. We always appreciate hearing from our customers, and in particular, receiving constructive feedback like yours. We’re continually looking for ways to improve our online shop and our service to you, and reviews like yours help us to do that.
We do indeed have a few final kinks to iron out, and we’re working round the clock to do just that. You’re right: shopping for groceries online is a cool perk for busy people, and we want it to be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy! We hope that your next shopping experience at Pick n Pay Online will be even closer to perfect, and that you’ll continue to pick us in future.
Best regards
The Pick n Pay Online shopping team
PS: whenever we do new releases, we will be in touch as we would love you to work with us and give us your feedback.
Saajida Akabor
Hi there. I’m pleased to know that my feedback can be of use to you. You’re welcome to get in touch with me in future – it’ll be my pleasure to work with PnP.
Tracey
Well u have just done my online shopping and am not too thrilled. Firstly I switched my points to Rands but they weren’t used. Secondly it stated I had until 5pm tonight to edit my grocery list. 40 minutes after I edited my list my bank was debited from Pn’P at 16:30.. Half an hour before my edited cut off time! .. I had 60 items so am wondering how my updated shopping list was shopped for in 40 minutes?!
Tracey
I have just done my online shopping.. Sorry about the typo
Saajida Akabor
Hi Tracey. That’s so unfortunate. Have you tried contacting the PnP team about it? Hope you get the resolution you were hoping for.
charlene
When ordering online and the payment is made and all, when delivery comes and certain items were left out. What do you do?
Saajida Akabor
Hi Charlene. I’d contact PnP immediately to let them know (also check your invoice to see if you’ve been charged for the items that were left out).
Charmaine
I enjoy the online shopping option. It is very convenient and you don’t have to stand in a long line over weekends. Only 2 negative things I can say about the service is;
1. Delivery areas that are not listed. They deliver 2 streets above my house but they do not deliver to my house?? So I then have to have everything delivered to my moms house and the collect there and take home. We’ve queried this numerous times and asked for our address to be added but to date is has still not been added and;
2. If you ask for delivery in the evening after 5 and you order any frozen produce it gets carted around in the truck from 15:00 and then it get delivered to you defrosted. I had to send items back on my last delivery as the stuff was completely defrosted and had to then request a refund.
I can however say that the refund did not take long and the money was back in my account asap.
Charmaine
Robyn Bornman
I have just tried the online shopping experience with Pick ‘n Pay,and chose Click and Collect … what a mistake. The service which I received from the store where I had to collect was absolutely diabolical, and it was a case of Click and Collect and Collect and Collect .. the third time I went there (24 hours after my collection time), I eventually got majority of my order, which had been paid for. I am still waiting for them to advise me when the refund will be done, as well as two of the products they picked were totally incorrect to what had been ordered.
The Manager on duty definitely needs to go on a Customer Relations course, and soon, as she has no idea how to treat or speak to customers; she told me that they never received the order from their Online Department, but she was not interested in following it up with them, as it “is not my problem”.
I can understand glitches in the system etc. but the way I was treated by Management of the store is disgusting, and only when I started throwing my toys out the cot on my second visit to the store, with proof of the order and the collection point, did she attempt to contact the Online Department. I eventually had to contact them to follow up, as the Store did not seem to know who to contact etc. and they did not bother giving me any feedback whatsoever.
I am extremely disgusted with the level of service from the Store. The staff at the Online Department were extremely helpful when I phoned them, and came back to me with feedback.