Covid 19 coronavirus: Demand for online grocery shopping soars

There has been an increase in demand for groceries both in store and online since Auckland moved to alert level 3. Photo / Alex Burton

Supermarkets have seen a massive increase in online grocery shopping in the past day - with the biggest increase unsurprisingly coming from Auckland.

Countdown and Foodstuff, which owns New World and Pak'nSave, says demand for its online shopping services - both delivery and click and collect - has sky rocketed since Auckland moved to alert level 3 and the rest of the country moved to alert level 2.

While some shoppers reported their groceries were delayed by several hours and some didn't arrive until after 10pm, Countdown spokeswoman Kate Porter said this only related to about 5 per cent of all orders.

"We had a massive day with online shopping yesterday, but we had about 95 per cent of orders delivered on time, which is pretty outstanding really! Increased demand with only a few hours to prepare for it will do that to you, but our team worked incredibly hard and as you can see, almost all customers nationwide received their orders on time."

Porter hoped those customers whose orders were delayed would understand the difficult circumstances they were dealing with and apologised for any frustration caused.

There had been an increase in demand for staples such as toilet paper and flour again and both Countdown and Foodstuffs urged shoppers to shop normally and not stockpile.

"Our supply chain is in good shape and we're busy restocking stores and keeping products on the shelf. As always we'd encourage Kiwis not to stock up and just shop as they normally would so it's fair for everyone," Porter said.

Foodstuffs NZ head of corporate affairs Antoinette Laird said its teams were managing in-store demand and an increase in online orders very well.

She warned product limitations might be put on a store or product basis if the individual store determines there was a need to ensure there was plenty of stock for everyone.

"We continue to ask customers to not stockpile; this is so everyone has a fair shot at buying their grocery essentials. Please only buy what you need and be fair to others."

Foodstuffs also encouraged people to shop online where available and for those who were sick or self-isolating to use the contactless delivery option.