Waitrose's ambitious plans to take on rival Ocado have not gone according to plan, as problems with its new £10m website have left some online shoppers defecting to rivals.
Waitrose.com went live with much fanfare a fortnight ago but has been beset with a number of problems such as slow speed. The upmarket grocer has faced a barrage of criticism from customers, some saying they have switched to Sainsbury's or Tesco. Waitrose's troubles will be a boost to rival online grocer Ocado.
Before the launch, Waitrose, owned by the John Lewis partnership, claimed the new site would be easier to navigate and make ordering easier and quicker. However, a spokeswoman admitted on Wednesday: "Following one of the biggest retail web changes ever, we're having some problems with our new website and would like to apologise for the inconvenience and frustration this has clearly caused some of our customers. However, we're seeing unprecedented volumes with orders up by almost 34% on the same time last year, so clearly the vast majority of shoppers are getting on well with the new site, but we're working hard to correct the issues others are experiencing as fast as we can."
On the online forum, angry shoppers called on Waitrose to bring the old website back, with "CheshireCat" saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", and "Witney Rhino" calling it the "worst website I have ever seen".
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