A MAJOR supermarket has opened its Christmas delivery slots today, as the countdown to the big day begins.
Asda is now allowing customers to secure a spot for when they want their festive grocery shopping dropped off ahead of the holidays.
As of October 15, shoppers who pay for its “Delivery Pass” service can book their slot for December.
A delivery pass is a payment plan which lets you make multiple orders without paying for delivery each time.
They can be paid monthly or yearly, with prices for Asda’s pass starting at £3.95 per month.
The service gives you priority access to slots alongside next-day delivery.
The minimum online spend at Asda is £40 for delivery and £25 for click and collect.
The UK’s third-largest supermarket said that over one million home delivery and click-and-collect slots will be available in the week leading up to Christmas.
Shoppers can also make changes or additions to their basket up until 11 pm the night before their delivery or collection.
But if you are not paying for a delivery pass you are going to have to wait a bit longer to book your spot.
Asda said regular shoppers will have to wait until Tuesday, October 22 to secure their space.
If you want to book a spot early you must already be a Delivery Pass customer.
You can sign up for the pass by visiting Asda’s online website at, https://groceries.asda.com/delivery-pass.
You will need to have an Asda grocery account to sign up for a pass and once you have paid it will be immediately available to use.
There is a minimum order of £40 and you can only use the service once a day.
At the moment an anytime 12-month pass is £6.95 per month, or for a midweek pass, it is £3.95.
If you would prefer to make a one-off payment an anytime 12-month pass costs £69.50 and a midweek 12-month pass costs £39.50.
Perks to signing up include next-day delivery, recurring booking slots, priority access to slots and free next-day collection on click and collect.
It’s not just Asda which has opened slots ahead of Christmas.
Tesco said this month that its annual delivery pass customers can book their slots from 6am on Tuesday, November 5.
This gives customers a one-week head start on regular shoppers, who will have to wait until November 12 to nab a slot.
But if you also want to get ahead of the game, you can still sign up to the delivery plan by Monday, November 4.
Saisnbury’s said Christmas delivery slots open on October 16 for Delivery Pass customers and 23rd October for others.
Waitrose has also already allowed its customers to start booking slots for Christmas.
Meanwhile, Morrisons has already started taking bookings with slots open now.
The same goes for Ocado with the pure-play online retailers offering customers the chance to book slots from as early as September.
M&S also launched its food-to-order service and the end of September, with slots filling up immediately.
The service lets you book and pay for your Christmas dinner and other snacks ahead of time and then collect them closer to the big day.
Orders this year can be collected on December 22, 23 or 24 in your local M&S Food Hall.
For Iceland, shoppers will be able to book delivery slots from around the middle of December.
You can read more about how this works by clicking the link here.
DELIVERY passes allow customers to pay a flat fee either monthly, yearly or six monthly, and then get their deliveries for free.
In some instances, you can also get first dips on booking your Christmas delivery slot.
You should only consider taking out a delivery pass if you order groceries online regularly and if you think it will save you money in the long term.
All major grocery stores offer the service but the price varies.
For example, Tesco’s anytime delivery plan costs £7.99 per month for 12 months or £47.88 if you don’t want to pay monthly.
You can also pay £47.88 if you don’t want to pay monthly.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s charges £7.50 per month for the service or £80.00 for a 12-month upfront payment.
Asda has passes starting from £3.95 per month or a 12-month payment of £69.50
Morrisons also offer the service with prices starting from £5
