The best value supermarket for your online shop

I love ordering my groceries through the computer. Admittedly, you have to pay a fee, but I believe that I save money overall because I only buy the things that I need, I don’t wander the aisles getting sucked into buying ‘bargains’.

And if you’re thinking I simply need to toughen up – ask yourself if you’ve honestly never bought an extra, unnecessary item because it was on offer. The supermarkets know exactly what they’re doing.

So I’m usually happy to pay a few pounds to have my groceries delivered to my door, rather than trailing around the shop with a fidgety toddler.

But which supermarket is best for ordering online? Which shop is genuinely the best value retailer for online grocery shopping?

[Related feature: Slash your supermarket delivery costs]

The best prices

Let’s start with what I consider to be the most important factor – how much will my shopping cost?

I use the supermarket comparison tool mysupermarket.com to compare the cost of my weekly supermarket shop. It shows me that ASDA is the cheapest place to order – this week it’s almost £10 cheaper than Ocado.

ASDA	£54.67
Tesco	£56.66
Sainsbury's	£60.03
Waitrose	£62.35
Ocado	£64.21

However, it’s only £1.99 less than the second cheapest, Tesco, so delivery charges could affect which is cheapest overall.

The best delivery charge

ASDA may be cheapest for my goods, but it charges between £3 and £6 for delivery, depending on the time slot I choose. That’s the same as Sainsbury’s and Tesco, although I could have had a free Sainsbury’s delivery if I’d spent more than £100.

Waitrose offers free delivery if I spend more than £50, which I would based on the above comparison. However, even if I choose a premium delivery time and pay £5, my ASDA shop is still cheaper.

Ocado also offers free delivery after 10pm or before 7am. But again, it’s still not the cheapest supermarket for me, on this basket of groceries at least.

The best reward scheme

ASDA may be the cheapest, but it doesn’t have a scheme in place to reward loyal customers. That’s a shame, as I love reward schemes and have cards for everywhere I regularly shop.

Waitrose offers loyal customers access to certain reserved deals but that doesn’t really interest me. So what else is available?

The Ocado Loyalty scheme offers one point for every £2 spent. You can then cash these in for vouchers – 100 points gives you a £1 voucher to spend at Ocado.

Sainsbury’s uses the Nectar card, which can also be used in other retailers, including Homebase and BP petrol stations.

Unless there’s a special offer, 500 points are worth £2.50, and you earn two points per pound spent in Sainsbury’s. So, to earn £2.50, you’d need to spend £250.

However, you can sometimes trade your points for rewards that double the value of your points, meaning a £250 spend would net you £5 to spend on a treat from the Nectar website.

At Tesco, you earn one point for every £1 spent, and a point is worth a penny. However, you can also exchange the vouchers for rewards and increase their value by up to four times. This is how I pay for an annual magazine subscription and it saves me about £75 over a year, so this is definitely my preferred loyalty scheme.

You can also boost your points other ways, such as by using a dedicated card – both Tesco and Sainsbury’s offer dedicated reward credit cards that give you extra points as well as their standard benefits.

[Related feature: How to get 10 Nectar points for every pound you spend at Sainsbury’s]

The best produce

Admittedly, this can only be an issue of personal taste. One shopper might prefer ASDA’s wide selection of budget products, another might opt for Tesco’s finest. The supermarket with the best produce depends largely on what you order.

For me, it’s Sainsbury’s. I find the packaging really clear, especially on the nutritional values. It has a wide range of RSPCA-approved meat and fish, and the fruit and vegetables are usually of a really high standard – even if you choose the budget packets.

The best service

I don’t think there’s much in it when it comes to service. Each supermarket I have used for home delivery has been excellent, with friendly drivers and well-chosen produce.

But there’s also the environment to consider. I like that Tesco will do a bagless delivery as I hate using six carrier bags simply to lug my shopping from the door to the kitchen.

I also like that ASDA shows you when vans are already in the area, so you can reduce wasted miles.

Who have I picked?

Ultimately, although a convenient delivery time makes life easier and the rewards are pleasant, what I care about the most is the cost.

I want my grocery shopping to be as cheap as possible and that’s my main priority. So I will continue to shop at ASDA.

Although I’ve found that ASDA is almost always the cheapest for my particular groceries, I do always check using mysupermarket.com, including factoring in the delivery costs.

That’s because sometimes Tesco is cheaper, especially if I am bulk-buying baby wipes. So it always makes sense to compare the cost of your groceries, whether you’re shopping online or heading along to the store.

What do you think? What makes a supermarket good value? Is shopping online easier or do you resent the delivery charge? Share your thoughts with other readers in the comments below.

[Related feature: The supermarket that promises to always be 1p cheaper]