Tesco offers Order & Collect service; customers can place orders via WhatsApp

Ritchie said the Order & Collect service will cut down on the time customers need to spend inside the store, and help maintain social distancing. — Tesco

Customers can now get Tesco staff to do their grocery shopping on their behalf, using the hypermarket’s Order & Collect service.

The service enables customers to send their shopping list to the store via WhatsApp, which will then be fulfilled by a personal shopper.

According to the FAQ, orders can only be placed for essential groceries and fresh items due to limited resources at the stores.

In the event a product is unavailable, the personal shoppers will contact customers to offer a suitable substitution. Customers may accept or reject the substitution.

After completing the order, the personal shopper will send back an estimated collection time and personalised barcode for the total price via WhatsApp.

Using the personalised barcode, customers can pay for the items at a dedicated checkout using cash, e-wallet, credit or debit card. Customers are required to pick up their order within 30 minutes of the collection time.

For now, each Tesco store will only be accepting 100 orders a day, with a maximum of 25 items per order.

Orders can be placed between 8am to 4pm daily, with collections by 6pm on the same day. There are no service fees.

Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd CEO Paul Ritchie said the Order & and Collect service would halve customers' time spent in stores for shopping and help them maintain their social distancing.

Ritchie added that Tesco’s Scan & Shop app, which enables customers to scan their items while shopping rather than at checkout, has seen a threefold increase in usage during the movement control order (MCO).

He said the app could also help in social distancing as customers can check themselves out without going through a cashier. The app also cuts down on the fuss of taking items in and out of the shopper’s basket or trolley during checkout, as it generates a barcode with all the items scanned so far, rather than needing customers to scan each item again at the checkout counter.

The Order & Collect service is available at 53 out of 60 Tesco stores nationwide. It is currently unavailable in Tesco Extra Puchong, Extra Cheras, Extra Selayang and Mutiara Damansara in Klang Valley, plus Desa Tebrau and KSL City Mall in Johor.

Tesco will announce if the Order & Collect service is extended to these locations.

For more information and to look up the WhatsApp contact numbers for individual stores, go to Tesco’s website.