Wilkinson Plus > Reviews (10)

Wilkinson’s isn’t a store I’d ever really shopped in much when it was just a high street shop. Mostly because my nearest one is the other side of town, and so going there to browse wasn’t really practical, and then because I didn’t go there often I’d forget about it as somewhere to try.

Over the years, I’ve begun to do more and more of my shopping online. This is partly because my disability makes it hard to get out and look around shops easily all the time, and partly because the internet is becoming much more user friendly as a place to shop. A couple of years ago I realised that Wilkinson’s (or Wilko’s as many people call it) run an online version of their store too however, and as they accept paypal for purchases (my favourite way to pay online!) it meant that I could shop there much more easily.

Browsing the store online is much easier than browsing the real store because the online version is laid out in a really easy to use way. Things are grouped well so that you can find items grouped as you might expect to use them – for example, if you’re looking for a fence panel you’d look in the ‘Gardening, Sheds & Greenhouses’ section of the site. Alternatively you could just type ‘fence panel’ into the search box and it will find you all the fence panels they sell.

There are twelve sections into which the store is divided, and it’s easy to just browse between them, or to look at the drop down menus which each section has so that you can look in the sub divisions. As you browse, items are displayed on the screen when you click on them, and you can see pictures, and information about the item, as well as information telling you if this is a delivery only item or if you can choose to collect it in store.

The sort of items you can purchase here vary widely and include garden furniture, barbecues, stationary, ornaments, rugs, curtains, toys, books, arts & craft materials, furniture items for around the home, power tools & hand tools, kettles, toasters and washing machines, duvets, pet food & bedding, fabric dye and much more. The best way to find out what they sell is to browse the site, but if you’re looking for something specific the search box is handy to have.

When I’ve shopped online I’ve sometimes opted to have items delivered to my home, and sometimes I’ve chosen to collect them in the store. The reason I sometimes choose home delivery is that it’s very easy especially for larger items. The reason for choosing in store collection is that it’s cheaper – having things delivered costs either £4.95 if it’s smaller items, or £20 if it’s larger items. Collecting things from store (when the option is available) is free of charge.

Once you have the items placed in your basket you get to choose your delivery option and your payment method, and even if you’re collecting in store you pay for everything online in advance. All the items available online cost the same as they do in store, so you don’t need to worry about price differences either.

When you opt to collect in store, you go through the check out process in the normal way, but instead of a package being delivered, you get a phone call when your items are ready for collection from the store so you can arrange to go in and collect them.

When you go to the store, all you do is to take a print out of the e-mail you were sent, and this has your customer code number on it and is proof that you’ve already paid. Your goods are pre-packed and waiting for you at the customer service desk so it’s just a matter of nipping in, picking them up and heading home again – sooo easy!

The first time I used this collection method I didn’t receive my phone call, so I phoned them – I immediately received an apology and they let me know my items were ready for collection. I think this occurred mostly because of the time of year – it was just before Christmas – and because they were very busy and understaffed. It didn’t put me off however, and I’m glad it didn’t as I’ve used this collection method several times since and been very happy with it. My husband is happy with it too as it means if I ask him to go and pick something up for me, all he has to do is hand over a piece of paper and pick up the bags, rather than having to search for the item I’ve described to him and then queue to pay.

Home delivery is even simpler and when you’ve finished paying you get an e-mail saying when they expect your items to be dispatched and when they expect you should receive them. On dispatch you receive another e-mail so you know that they’ve now entered the mailing system, and will soon (hopefully) be delivered by royal mail.

As websites go, this one can be a little slow to load sometimes which as I’m not the most patient of people does frustrate me rather. The fact that prices here are incredibly good compared to many stores online and off does however make up for this somewhat.

Overall I’d recommend Wilko’s and in particular their website shopping experience as I find it a nice relaxed way to shop. I like that they save my shopping basket from one visit to the next as long as I’m signed in, and I like that they offer recommendations, so if you’re looking for ideas of something to go with an item you’ve chosen, you can sometimes find it just through their recommendations.