#online-grocery

#online-grocery

"I ordered raspberries. They send me cauliflowers." That's how a Californian shopper described their online grocery experience buying groceries from Walmart using the Instacart app. Our fieldwork has revealed similar mishaps. These mismatched substitutions have become a symbol of a deeper problem-one that quietly erodes profitability, damages customer trust, and impedes the growth of online ordering in retail.

Grocery price inflation has been recorded at 6.3pc in the 12 weeks to the start of this month. This is up from 5.4pc in the previous 12-week period, according to retail industry consultants Worldpanel, which used to be called Kantar. The spiralling cost of everyday essentials is forcing consumers to cut back on what they buy in the shops and to substitute expensive items like beef for cheaper alternatives like chicken, experts have said.

It's one of the most popular options for online grocery shopping in the UK, but Tesco appears to be suffering technical troubles this morning. Thousands of people have been left unable to do their online shop, as the Tesco app and website are not working properly. According to DownDetector, problems started just after 8am BST on Monday and are affecting more than 1,100 users across the UK.

The Series D round comes three years after the company's $75 million Series C round led by Norwest Venture Partners. The valuation of the company at $320 million has remained flat over this period. According to sources familiar with the deal who spoke with TechCrunch, investors used nearly a 4x multiple of Citymall's past year of revenue as a benchmark. The company has raised $165 million to date.