Ocado pulls website and app as Tesco and Asda sell out of delivery slots due to coronavirus
OCADO shoppers can no longer order home deliveries using its app, while Morrisons, Sainsbury's, and Tesco have all run out of online delivery slots.
Supermarkets have been placed under extreme demand as households have been told by the Prime Minister to stay at home where possible due to coronavirus fears.
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Online-only retailer Ocado had already pulled its app causing a two-hour wait to get on its website to order deliveries.
It's unclear when the app will be back, but now Ocado has closed its website too until Saturday March 21.
In a statement it said: "We are very sorry to cause any inconvenience.
"We’re managing a simply staggering amount of traffic to our website right now and more demand for products and deliveries than we can meet."
It means you can't edit an existing order or book a new delivery.
Ocado says if you have a delivery booked for Thursday or Friday, cut-off times for editing these orders have already passed anyway but your driver will still arrive as expected.
Shoppers with an existing order booked for delivery from Saturday onwards will be contacted later this week with details of how to edit their orders.
"We are using this time to improve our infrastructure so that we can return to our normal service levels."
But Ocado isn't the only supermarket experiencing problems due to high demand as major supermarkets have struggled for weeks with home delivery slots often selling out days and even weeks in advance.
Shoppers have said it's "worse than Christmas".
When The Sun checked Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, and Tesco today, we could only order an online delivery at Asda - and even then, the earliest available slot was Monday April 6.
All the other supermarkets had completely sold out.
We did, however, only test one London-based address so it may be that availability varies across the country in which case it's still worth checking.
Sainsbury's currently has a statement on the delivery section of its website saying: "We have limited delivery availability due to extremely high demand.
"We are doing everything we can to improve this situation, please check back regularly for latest availability."
The supermarket's chief executive, Mike Coupe, has also written to customers today to say that click and collect customers will be able to pick up deliveries from a collection point in store car parks from Monday March 23.
He said: "For any online customer who can travel to our stores, from Monday March 23, we will operate an expanded ‘click and collect’ service.
"We are significantly increasing the number of collection sites across the country over the coming days in preparation for this.
"Customers can place their order online as usual and pick it up from a collection point in the store car park."
Meanwhile, Asda also says it has seen an increase in demand for home delivery.
In a statement it said: "Our online business is growing and we do have capacity to take on more orders – however; we would ask customers who can be flexible in their delivery slots to consider less popular delivery times."
Morrisons has this week already announced plans to create 3,500 jobs to help expand home deliveries to get groceries to vulnerable people.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of trade body the British Retail Consortium, added: “Our members are working hard to ensure consumers have access to the products they need.
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"Even where there are challenges, retailers are well-versed in providing effective measures to keep retail sites running smoothly, and they are working with suppliers to increase the supply of goods."
Asda, Morrisons and Tesco have also all asked home delivery customers to tell them if they’re in self isolation to reduce infection risk.
The Sun has contacted all supermarkets involved and will update this story as soon as we get a response.