Customers of supermarket giant Tesco who want to take advantage of its click and collect grocery service will now be able to pick up the items they select via safe shopping online by 12pm the same day, as long as they submit the order by 9am.

The popularity of click and collect has exploded across the UK, prompting many bricks and mortar firms to embrace it and offer shoppers more flexibility over pickup times. So it is no surprise to see Tesco rolling out this early same day delivery scheme to over 300 of its stores nationally, according to Internet Retailing.

Last year a tenth of Tesco orders which were placed via safe shopping online and fulfilled via click and collect were picked up by customers within 24 hours, with this proportion expected to grow now that there are more delivery windows available.

In some parts of the country, most notably in the capital, it is also possible for home delivery of grocery orders to be completed on the same day - a feature which could also be expanded elsewhere once Tesco updates its distribution infrastructure.

One of the reasons that Tesco and other major supermarkets are embracing click and collect, as well as giving customers more delivery options across the board, is that they are attempting to fight back against the threat posed by e-commerce giant, Amazon.

Amazon has been dipping its toes into the grocery market for some time and is likely to up its efforts significantly this year, meaning that traditional outlets could suffer unless they are able to compete. While Amazon does not have real world stores, it is pushing things like Prime Now and its Fresh service to position itself as a company that can deliver consumables, as well as non-perishable goods.