Thanks to HappyFresh, this morning India met New York as I wolfed down my latest fusion creation: roti paratha, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. Every last crispy flake and drop of lemon was licked up off the plate.
The only wheels I own are the ones on my shopping trolley. Since no one has yet created the bugaboo version for easy curb maneuvering, I find myself embracing the new world of online and personal grocery shoppers!
This week I put another online shopping service, HappyFresh to the test. I loved that I could chose either desktop or mobile ordering. As someone prone to procrastinating, the ability to sit at my desktop, perusing perishables and zooming in on ingredient lists with no young child asking to go into or out of the cart… again, was simply wonderful.
HappyFresh is unique in that it isn’t a grocery store offering its wares online but a personalised shopper who runs your errands for you. You can chose a store from a number of options depending on your delivery address, which brings me to….
Getting Started:
Nice clean screen. There is an option to choose your location now. Beware of this option. I recommend putting in the town and choosing your location. I am in Desa ParkCity and if I let the computer establish my address I got one selection of shop but when I chose Desa Park 52200 menu tab, Bangsar Village Grocer was added to the list. This makes a big difference if you are like me and hunting for expat favourites.
Filling My Cart:
This was the easy part! It was too easy to find many delicious things to fill my cart and break the bank! I don’t typically shop at Village Grocer as I have no way to get there but it felt like much of what is in the shop is available online. I wanted it all and I will make sure that in the future I log on AFTER a big meal to resist impulse buys.
Below is just a glimpse of part of their menus.
When using the search bar, I was able to find all my favourite staples. As I explored the abundance of options, I was delighted that I could zoom in and read the fine print on packages. Of course, all these delicacies come at a price!
Checkout:
The process was very straightforward and HappyFresh gets full marks for communicating clearly at every step of the way. You can choose from your account address or add a new one. At the bottom you can select the day and time you wish to have your goods delivered, in one hour windows. In some cases the options are same day. To me that is simply phenomenal service. Delivery is free for orders above RM300 and ranges between RM10-15 depending on the amount spent and how fast you want it delivered.
You may think you are done once you’ve paid and selected your slot but anyone who has spent any time scanning supermarket aisles in KL knows things are not always available. About 30 minutes before the start of my delivery window I got a call from my personal shopper informing me of items sold out and asking whether I wanted a substitution. I had trouble hearing my shopper and the options she was offering me didn’t feel like good substitutions.
To be fair to her, unless you are regularly cooking with foreign ingredients you probably won’t know what makes a good replacement. Epicurean flageolet beans can’t be replaced with Del Monte Italian green cut string beans; they are both beans and green but two very different things. I couldn’t get to my laptop to hunt for options at that point and we struggled to communicate. In the end I let her pick what she thought best knowing I could refuse the substitutions at my door.
The Delivery:
A man on a scooter arrived 5 minutes after our agreed slot. He was very polite & professional. The goods came in two bright re-usable bags – sadly goods were also separated by type in regular plastic bags inside which defeats the purpose somewhat. He pointed out the fridge/freezer goods so that we could check and refrigerate them immediately.
When he couldn’t get connectivity, he zoomed off out of the compound, downloaded the list, and came back to go through it with me. I found checking off the items without a paper list challenging on my side and I will definitely print the emailed confirmation in advance.
The Goods:
Everything was presented beautifully – a selection featured below:
The produce was fresh, appealing, and delicious:
Only one of the substitutions was a good fit. It drives home how these online deliveries are great for staples but if you have a particular dish or meal in mind you want to make, you are probably better off going to the shops to get ingredients you know will work.
One ingredient was a disappointment. I ordered a pack of Australian Crimson Pearl Potatoes. Here is what the photo looked like:
In most cases the HappyFresh site gives you an indication of weight/# of pieces in a pack. For some reason they didn’t in this case. From the photo and wording, I expected several potatoes. I received one potato, which didn’t look particularly crimson or pearl-like.
My experience of HappyFresh online shopping:
Positives: Phenomenal selection, great communication – from order confirmation to an apology for the tardiness of the driver and offering me a discount voucher for my troubles, the ability to scrutinise items, and overall ease of use of the site. Love the options to select different markets catering to different types of food.
Negatives: Substitution options weren’t great. Of the supermarket options, most of them weigh in on the pricier side.
HappyFresh gets two thumbs up from me. I loved being able to shop in bed, with coffee on my nightstand, taking my time to fill my cart. I’ll definitely be using their service again – at the start of the month when I am flush with cash!
We are thrilled to offer Happy Go KL readers a voucher for 15% OFF your entire cart when you spend above RM100! Simply type in HAPPYGOKL in the voucher box when you check out and pick your delivery time. The code is valid until 31st March 2016.
*This is a sponsored post. We tested the service and opinions are our own, as usual.
2 Responses
What a great service.
I have to try this!