Online grocery shopping is on the rise in Tauranga, with thousands of people shopping online each week and super savers saying you could shave your food bill by up to 50 per cent.
Shopping by the click of a mouse is now so popular that online supermarket Countdown is adding a new online department to one of its Tauranga stores.
Jackie Gower of the Simple Savings website said it was possible to halve your grocery bill by online shopping.
She used the service regularly when she lived rurally - and "honestly couldn't find anything bad about it".
The delivery fee was "far less than what it would have cost to drive to the supermarket and back", and she found she shaved plenty off her bill due to eliminating temptations and impulse buys.
Chocolates, fancy shower gels and magazines were all cut out of the shop, Mrs Gower said.
"You only really buy what you need. You don't get those things the supermarket put at the end of the aisles and at the check-out to tempt you."
Another bonus - it was easy to stick to your budget as the website tallies your total as you go along.
"You know exactly what you are spending, you don't get any nasty surprises at the check-out.
"If you get to the end and you have gone over your budget, you can put some things back."
Fans of online shopping told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend that changing the way they shopped had forced them to plan the week's meals instead of dashing to the supermarket several times a week.
Menu planning was a huge money saver, Mrs Gower said.
"When I first started menu planning I probably cut my grocery bill by half because I was only buying what I needed.
"You can still make the most of specials and switch meals to make it fit with your plan."
Mrs Gower said the first time she shopped online it took a long time, but after several shops it became quick and easy as the website saved her shopping list.
"After a couple of times, it takes a fraction of the time it would take to wheel your trolley round the supermarket."
Budgeting expert Lyn Webster said online shopping was great if it worked for you - but hardcore savers would flinch at the delivery fee.
Ms Webster, who runs savings website Pigtitsandparsleysauce.co.nz, has never shopped online and currently spends just $35 a week for food, cleaning products and bathroom products for her and her teenage son.
She said savings made by online shopping highlighted the "tricks" supermarkets used to part shoppers with their money.
"The supermarket is set up to fool you - if you don't go there, you won't be fooled.
"The cynical frugal person inside me is thinking that even the decreasing delivery fee with the higher spend is a typical ruse justifying and rewarding higher spending."
While shopping online could be a good move for the average family trying to save money, Ms Webster said for frugal families, it would not be worth it.
"Online shopping won't work for me because hard core money saving and environmentally responsible choices rarely involve the supermarket."
Adam Hudson, national online manager for Progressive Enterprises, operator of Countdown and Woolworths, said online grocery shopping was experiencing a "real surge" - including in Tauranga.
Thousands of people in the Western Bay were using the service each week, he said, and a new online department will be added to a Tauranga supermarket in August to cope with demand.
Currently, all orders are packed out of the Bayfair store.
As well as delivery, customers can pick-up their online order for a cost of $3.95.
Mr Hudson attributed the increase in the popularity of online grocery shopping to increased broadband penetration and the internet generation coming of age.
"Consumers are more engaged with the internet with websites like Facebook, they book travel online, so more customers are more likely to give online shopping a go.
"As people who grew up with the internet are starting to have young families, new mums are seeing the benefits of shopping online. It's become more the norm."
A spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, which operates Pak'n Save, New World and Four Square, said the company was not yet offering online shopping in New Zealand.
COUNTDOWN DELIVERY FEES
Up to $99.99 spend: $15.25
$100 to $199.99 spend: $13.25
$200 to $249.99 spend: $11.25
$250+ spend: $8.25
Pick-up: $3.95
WEIGHING IT UP
Pros:
You stick to your shopping list
No impulse buys
Saves time
Saves petrol
Cons:
Delivery fee
You can still get sucked into specials
You don't get out of the house or bump into people you know.
Saver suggests that internet shopping can help you chop those grocery bills in half