Sainsbury's opens doors for idTV home shopping
Shoppers in the UK can now buy their groceries at Sainsbury's without leaving the house, using a new NTL interactive digital TV (idTV) home shopping service. The new service opened its virtual doors on Monday October 28th, 2002.
The supermarket's existing home shopping service, Sainsbury's to You, has joined forces with broadband service provider, NTL, to launch the interactive television grocery store. NTL customers will be able to choose from more than 15,000 products - the same range of products available in Sainsbury's stores. The service gives customers the flexibility to shop from home, either through the NTL digital television service, or via the internet.
"Customers want more choice and convenience, and a television shopping service makes sense because so many people own a television," explained Robin Lassiter, director of home shopping for Sainsbury's. "We linked up with NTL because they have the best platform and are a good geographic fit with our home shopping service."
Convenient In consumer tests, it was found that anyone who can use a remote control finds the digital TV shop very easy to use without any explanation at all, and customers with a regular shopping list can place an order in less than twenty minutes. In particular, the service suits customers who, for a variety of reasons, cannot get to the shops, or are struggling to find time to go to a store in person.
Orders placed before 9pm can be delivered the following day, depending on the availability of delivery time slots. As an introductory offer, free deliveries are being offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, for orders of £50 or more. At all other times, deliveries cost £5.
Availability Operating from 71 of its stores, the supermarket's existing internet-based home shopping service is currently available to 74% of UK households, and more stores are to be added before Christmas 2002.
In the UK, over 11 million households are located within NTL's fibre-optic broadband network range. NTL is currently serving around 3 million residential customers and, being a good geographical fit for the home shopping service, many of those customers will have access to the new interactive television home shopping service.
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