Savvy shoppers are using an app that tracks supermarket websites to jump their way to the start of the queue to avoid waiting weeks for a delivery slot.
Almost 2000 Brits have signed up to Visualping, which was developed by engineers in Canada, to get alerts when Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons and Waitrose update their delivery times.
The coronavirus pandemic has lead to a huge increase in online grocery orders as millions avoid travelling to the supermarket for fear of catching the deadly disease.
Savvy shoppers are using an app that tracks supermarket websites to jump their way to the start of the queue to avoid waiting weeks for a delivery slot. Pictured: A delivery driver for Ocado online supermarket delivers a shopping order in Ironbridge, Shropshire
Long queues and stripped shelves at supermarkets has also caused a rise in the public shopping at wholesalers as people wait weeks on end to get a delivery shop.
More than 1200 Brits are using Visualping to track orders at Tesco, while a further 427 are tracking Ocado’s website and 92 keep tabs on Waitrose, according to the Telegraph.
Serge Salager, the chief executive of Visualping, told the newspaper that 1,737 UK shoppers are ‘taking advantage of automation’.
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To cope with unprecedented demand, supermarkets are releasing delivery slots for as little as two hours a day, Visualping analysis showed.
Almost 2000 Brits have signed up to Visualping, which was developed by engineers in Canada, to get alerts when Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons and Waitrose update their delivery times. Pictured: Shoppers queue using safe distance measures at Waitrose supermarket on April 22, 2020 in Rushden
And while lockdown boredom has turned the UK into a nation of amateur bakers, many have struggled to get their hands on flour.
As a result, more than 700 Brits have signed up to Visualping to monitor Shipton Mill, which produces flour for the nation’s bakeries.
Mike Smith, a chef using the site to monitor Shipton Mill, added to the Telegraph: ‘I am a chef and out of work, but trying to bake bread for my neighbours, friends and family, for something to do and also just to help people in this crisis.
‘So I have been trying to buy bread flour, which is hard to find. I used Visualping to automate checks for when a delivery slot would be available.’
Source: Food Recipes and News
