New research by Mintel shows that 45 per cent of the population are not onboard when it comes to food shopping online. One in three adults shop online for food but just one in nine do so regularly or exclusively. The majority of consumers, 83 per cent, said they still like to see and touch fresh produce before buying, and 66 per cent prefer not to buy fresh food online due to concern about use-by dates.

No great surprise there. The UK online grocery retail sector has experienced impressive growth in the last few years but it is still no more than a niche in the market for Sainsbury’s, Tesco et al. However, whilst it currently only accounts for two to three per cent of total UK grocery sales, it will continue to show strong growth, as consumers get used to shopping online for food, and the supermarket chains enhance their offerings.

There’s certainly room for improvement. I have been doing my grocery shopping online for a few years now - first with Sainsbury’s who, it has to be said, were terrible - constantly late with deliveries and always guaranteed to be out of stock on at least a couple of items. My personal favourite experience: the time when they delivered seven bags of dog food and Spaghetti Hoops. The driver was most put out when I highlighted the mistake. I do hope that the dog lover who exists solely on a diet of small pasta loops in tomato sauce eventually received his/her order.

Nowadays, I shop with Tesco who are much better at the delivery side of things, although the website, whilst boasting a lot of functionality, is not quite there yet. I still think, for instance, that they could be doing more on the impulse buying side of things.

I spent yesterday at The Rookery hotel in Farringdon, locked away (OK, slight exaggeration, I admit) with a team of judges, poring over the entries for our 2009 awards.

It wasn’t easy but we eventually came up with the winners across 17 categories. There were some fantastic entries and the winners list looks great. Many thanks to the judges: Sharon Peters, Programme Manager - Retail Systems, Marks & Spencer; Christine Bardwell, Retail Technology Analyst, Ovum (part of Datamonitor); and Paul Rodgers, Chairman, Vendorcom…And congratulations to Sharon who is due to give birth in a few weeks.

Look forward to seeing many of you on the big night - Thursday, 29th October at the Ballroom of The Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane. Further info at: www.retail-systems.com/awards

Retail Systems has covered loyalty cards/programmes twice this year. At the beginning of 2009, we ran a roundtable in association with BT, Microsoft and Retalix. And in the last issue of the mag, our annual loyalty feature looked at the challenges facing retail organisations around customer loyalty and retention. Both times the overriding message was: loyalty - not dead, but not exactly full of life either…with, of course, the exception of Tesco and a couple of others.

But the last 12 months have shown that there’s life in the old dog yet. Wickes has launched MyCard. This offers cardholders one point for every £1 spent in-store. Customers can redeem 1,000 points for a £10 voucher. And Odeon Cinemas has also grabbed a piece of the action. During a trip to my local Odeon at the weekend - to see (500) Days of Summer…highly recommended - members of staff were out in force, promoting the chain’s new loyalty scheme, Odeon Première Club. Unlike many other programmes, you have to make a one off payment in order to join up, ranging from £1.99 to £9.99 and, in return, you get such benefits as: exclusive film offers with the chance to win prizes; earn ten points for every pound you spend online and in cinema; redeem said points online for film tickets or at cinemas for tickets, popcorn and soft drinks.

Following a trial in a handful of cinemas, the programme is now being rolled out nationwide. Interesting to note that the company is avoiding the Cineworld-style Unlimited cards route and opting for the sort of ‘points for pounds’ rewards scheme that you would normally see in a supermarket. Probably a wise move on their part as this will set them apart from the competition.

On a film-related note, I’ll sign off by saying: RIP Patrick Swayze (or The Swizzle, as he is known to anyone who read Smash Hits in the mid to late 80s).

An interesting move by HMV…The retailer is shutting down its online community, getcloser.com

It was only in beta, but getcloser.com was really well put together and boasted a lot of functionality - users could, for example, create a profile and then list gigs that they were attending and chat about their likes/dislikes in music and movies. They could also message or chat with other users and create mini communities.

It would be easy to accuse the retailer of losing faith in the venture as the recession continues to bite. But this is probably a shrewd move on HMV’s part. Most of the content will be uploaded to the retailer’s rewards scheme website, purehmv, which is playing a major part in its drive to differentiate itself from Amazon, Play.com and other e-tailers. Rather than a nail in the coffin for social networking in retail, this should be viewed as a logical evolution as companies aim to find the right fit for them.

ASOS.com went live with its same day delivery service at the end of August, powered by MetaPack delivery management software and CitySprint’s SameDay courier solution.

Whilst there are other companies offering this, the fashion retailer is covering the largest area - at a cost of £16.95 to the customer. Customers wanting delivery to addresses within the M25 and some areas on its outskirts, as well as within a 50 mile radius of ASOS.com’s warehouse in Hemel Hempstead, can now select the same day option if ordering before 2pm on weekdays and 12pm on weekends. The company reports that, in the first week, 141 orders were delivered on the same day service - most with an average basket value of £120.

It’s surprising that more retailers don’t offer same or next day delivery. Online retail continues to be a bright spot in these challenging times, but too many companies fall short when it comes to giving the customer a choice as to when they would like their delivery to arrive. Progress has been made since the dark days of ‘it’ll cost you £3.50 and it’ll be with you in the next five days…don’t blame us, blame the Post Office’, but will we ever get to the point where everything we buy online has the option for evening and weekend delivery?

Here’s the shortlist for our 2009 awards, as promised in a previous blog: www.retail-systems.com/awards/awards_shortlist.html

Next up is the judging day where myself and a team of judges pick the winners - always a challenging but thoroughly enjoyable experience. And then the big night on Thursday, 29th October. Hope to see you there.