Supermarket giant, Tesco, has been a national leader when it comes to offering grocery orders via safe shopping online. But now it is following in the footsteps of other e-commerce companies like Amazon, by increasing the minimum amount that customers have to spend in order to avoid higher costs for handling and delivery.

Previously, customers had to spend at least £25 to place an order without paying an extra fee, but now this lower limit will be raised to £40, according to the Gloucester Citizen.

This new rule change will come into effect on July 23rd and anyone who spends less than £40 on their grocery order from that point on will have to pay an additional £4, on top of the value of their basket and the cost of the delivery slot they pick.

This surcharge will not be levelled against people who place an order only to find that substitutions have to be made, resulting in the value falling below the £40 threshold.

For people who are buying their weekly groceries online, spending £40 or more in one session should be easy. But those who were splashing out on smaller baskets are likely to be stung.

Of course, it is worth pointing out that the rise of e-commerce and the proliferation of smaller convenience stores has altered consumers’ shopping habits in recent years. People are more adapted to going on smaller shopping trips to a local store more regularly, rather than heading to a major supermarket to pick up a big order all at once.

Whether or not the hike in minimum online spend will hurt Tesco’s online prospects is unclear, but with both Aldi and Lidl threatening to enter the e-commerce market, it could soon be facing stiffer competition.