Sainsbury's online shopping: major UK groceries supermarket raises online shop home delivery spend by £10
Small orders are set to cost more, and Yorkshire shoppers may need to bulk up online baskets 💸
- From Tuesday, April 7, Sainsbury’s customers must spend £50 online, up from £40, to avoid delivery fees
- Orders under £50 will now cost £7.50, even for Delivery Pass holders
- As a result, single-person homes and pensioners face higher costs for small orders
- Similar changes have been recently implemented by Morrisons, Tesco and Asda, showing a trend in online delivery charges
One major supermarket is set to shake up online shopping for Yorkshire households, raising the minimum spend for free delivery by £10 after more than a decade.
From Tuesday, April 7, Sainsbury’s customers will need to spend at least £50 per order to avoid paying delivery fees, up from the current £40.
The change applies even to those with Sainsbury’s Delivery Passes, which cost £7.50 per month or £80 for a year.
Customers who spend less than the new £50 threshold will now face a £7.50 delivery charge, an increase from the current £7.
For shoppers without a pass, fees on orders under £50 will also rise to £7.50, while those spending over the threshold will pay between £1 and £5.50 per delivery, depending on the order.
For smaller households, single-person homes, and pensioners, this is a significant blow, and social media reactions have been quick and vocal.
Sainsbury’s insists the increase is necessary, with a spokesperson saying: “The spend needed to qualify for standard delivery had remained unchanged for well over a decade, and after a recent review, it will increase next month from £40 to £50 to reflect the costs for our business in providing this service.
“The vast majority of our customers already spend over this threshold and will subsequently see no impact when shopping with us online, while options like our Delivery Pass and Click & Collect can help to reduce costs further.”
The move mirrors wider trends in supermarket delivery charges. Morrisons faced backlash last July when it introduced a £3 fee for orders under £40, a policy that initially hit smaller families and elderly shoppers.
Asda currently requires a £40 minimum to avoid fees, while Tesco’s threshold is £50, the same as Sainsbury’s new limit.
For Yorkshire shoppers, smaller online shops could get more expensive, and households that rely on weekly deliveries may need to adjust their shopping habits, bulk up orders, or consider delivery passes to minimise extra costs.