Although it is yet to arrive in the UK, a new one-hour food delivery solution from budget supermarket Lidl which is launching in Spain this month could revolutionise the way people order groceries via safe shopping online.

Although products will not be shipped directly to customers’ homes as part of this process, the concept will still save shoppers the hassle of having to go around bricks and mortar outlets in person, picking out products from shelves one by one.

In essence, this is a click and collect style of service, albeit one which is more tuned towards speed than anything which is currently offered to British shoppers.

Thousands of products are covered by the service, and company spokesperson Carlos Gonzalez-Vilardell said that the first users were reporting positive experiences, enjoying the added convenience of being able to order groceries online and then collect them just an hour later from a local store.

Just a couple of cities in Spain are currently compatible with the service, but Lidl is intending to roll it out more broadly after this small-scale trial is completed.

One-hour home delivery services for food are offered in certain places by firms like Amazon in the UK, although the full grocery shopping experience is yet to be replicated in this manner. For the time being it seems that click and collect is the best compromise, with the potential for improvements to infrastructure in the future making doorstep deliveries a prospect.

For many consumers, there may be more interest in getting later delivery slots for evening drop-off or collection over the speed of a one-hour service like this. Of course, those who are not interested in planning ahead may prefer the immediacy of what Lidl is offering.