Buying fresh online
Making a purchase through the internet is convenient, it saves time, it allows you to manage your expenses and forces you to plan better. The only thing which puts a lot of people off 'moving on' to buying food online is the choice and service of fresh produce. Here we've summarised some of the things you need to take into account when buying meat, fish, fruit or vegetables online.
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The decision to choose an online supermarket or store, especially for the first time, depends largely on how much we trust the service we receive in the physical store. That same guarantee is what we want to find in the online service. These are the key issues in your first online purchase of fresh produce.
The pictures
You need to bear in mind that, unlike what happens with other products, in the case of fresh products the photos in online stores won't necessarily exactly match the product you receive. Fresh products vary in size, colour, shape and flavour from day to day. A good option for making the right choice and, in addition, for protecting the environment, is to choose seasonal produce. It usually doesn't disappoint in terms of either taste or price, since it's at its optimum moment of consumption.
Speed
One of the advantages of buying online is that we save time and don't have to travel, so once we've filled our virtual cart, we need to simplify the process as much as possible. Product lists, like those in the Mundo Consum app, allow you to load a list of saved products straight into your cart. This is particularly useful when we're buying regular products in our "Weekly Purchase" basket, when we're preparing a special "Carlos' Birthday" celebration or when we're planning a group "Rural Getaway" event.
The preparation
Most online food stores have specific sections for the type of product preparation we want. When we buy a packaged product, we usually get exactly what we expected, but when we ask for a 'made-to-measure' preparation, like steak tacos, a serving of sea bass, slices of sausage etc. we need to specify exactly how we want the product to be prepared. We can specify the weight and the size in detail to make the preparer's job easier: small tacos, 100 grams of sea bass, 6 thin slices of sausage...
At this point we should refresh our memory on the most common cuts of fish or the best pieces of meat for each recipe.
The service
Delivery in perfect condition is one of the main concerns in the service, both for the buyer and for the online seller. Maintaining the cold chain is crucial for many foods, especially if they are frozen or fresh, since it guarantees their freshness and quality and gives them a longer shelf life. It's important that the courier - whether they're the store's courier or an external one - and the client keep in contact, usually by phone, so that the delivery takes place with all the guarantees. It's important to ensure that during transport the product goes from one refrigeration system to another, the customer's refrigerator, in the shortest possible time.
Buying online doesn't have to mean losing the direct relationship with our supermarket's 'master of freshness' and losing out on their expert advice. The order and delivery systems allow short messages to be sent. For example, we can add a type of cheese to the cart and include in the comments: I want a finely sliced cured cheese, whatever you recommend. And conversely, receiving a cheese from the specialist which is as thin as it can be without breaking.
