Adverse Weather Conditions Lead Major Retailers To Halt Online Orders During Peak Shopping Season
Posted by SuperStoreSearch Team on Tuesday, 14th December, 2010.
Wintry weather conditions has prompted the main supermarket chains and online shops to suspend online orders coming from Scotland, including Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s and internet superstore Amazon.co.uk, citing the adverse weather which brought transport links to a halt last week.
With the Christmas holiday season being one of the busiest times of the year for shopping and an estimated £6.4bn spent over the period, many of the main supermarkets and online stores have been struggling to keep up with deliveries and the backlog that built up because of the disruption caused by the weather.
Mail couriers such as Parcel Force and Home Delivery Network were among those affected, with HDN stating deliveries were being limited or delivered later than normal, while courier Yodel was fighting to clear a 2 week backlog.
Scotland Deliveries Affected
Current information on stores which have been affected in taking orders from and delivering to Scotland and some parts of north east England:
- Asda Direct states it is unable to deliver large items such as furniture in time for Christmas, and orders for in-store collection have been halted in the run up to 25 December.
- Amazon deliveries have faced similar disruptions and are being delayed in the run up to Christmas.
- Boots suspends guaranteed Next Day delivery service but standard delivery service and in store collection services are still available.
- Firebox cannot guarantee Next Day deliveries.
- Marks and Spencer is no longer taking orders with home deliveries for Scotland, citing a week-long backlog
- Sainsbury’s temporarily suspends its standard delivery service for Scotland and some parts of north east England.
- Tesco halts all new orders from Scotland and the Scottish Isles providing similar reasons including “..a build-up of orders. However, if you have already placed an order we will do our very best to deliver your items as soon as possible.” Grocery deliveries are not affected.
The current weather forecast predicts more heavy snowfall across much of the country in the coming days, which will likely affect delivery services even further.
