People who carried out safe shopping online with Asda last week may have been disappointed to find that their orders did not arrive as intended after a glitch with the retailer's systems caused chaos, according to the Register.

The incident began on Saturday evening, not only impacting people who had arranged for their groceries to be delivered direct to their door, but also customers who had made use of the firm’s click and collect service.

In the aftermath, the company confirmed that any of the people who had not received their orders as a result of the issue would be receiving £15 off their next shop and would also be able to rearrange their delivery in a slot that fits in with their schedules.

Since an estimated 15 per cent of all online orders were hit by this glitch, it is clear that it will have caused problems for a large group of consumers. A spokesperson for Asda said that the source of the fault was not a hack, but rather originated after an update was being rolled out across its servers.

Asda has been scaling back its rollout of click and collect locations in recent months, meaning that people who order via safe shopping online will not necessarily be able to pick it up from a local store or drop-off point. A little over half of the UK is covered by its current network, but while it had earlier ambitions to expand even further, this has been given a lower priority.

Glitches like this are to be expected from time to time, although customers who were let down when their shopping did not turn up may feel that the £15 discount offered by Asda is not enough to make up for the hassle.