// 49% of Aldi customers had received a replacement item in their most recent shop
// Aldi has been named as the UK’s worst supermarket for online order substitutions
Aldi has been named as the UK’s worst supermarket for online order substitutions.
The consumer group Which? found in its report that substitute foods across the grocery sector did not always meet dietary requirements or the food intolerance needs of the customer.
Which? said that its survey of online shoppers found that Aldi, which has a click-and-collect online shopping service only, was the most likely of the nine online supermarkets, by a narrow margin, to put substitutions in customer orders.
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It found that 49% of Aldi customers had received a replacement item in their most recent shop.
The chain was followed close behind by Sainsbury’s at 48%, Asda at 45%, Morrisons at 43% and Ocado at 41%.
Tesco, the UK’s largest grocer by market share, had substituted at least one item in the most recent order for 39% of the customers surveyed.
Supermarket pickers – the people who choose online shoppers’ items from supermarket shelves or warehouses – often receive automatic prompts on their handheld scanners about what to choose as a substitution if the item wanted is not available, Which? said.
Its report added that some of the computer-generated ideas were clearly not suitable and had to be manually overridden, but sometimes the pickers have to give up on choosing a sensible swap because of time targets.
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