Iceland has released hundreds of thousands of delivery slots for shoppers to get food in time for Christmas.
The supermarket giant went live with a whopping 450,000 Christmas delivery slots for shoppers this morning, while also taking a cheeky swipe at its competitors.
It comes after an incredibly busy period which has seen multiple major supermarkets offer Christmas delivery slots as early as November, as well as being fully booked in advance.
The retailer sent ‘break glass in emergency’ rescue packs containing a prop turkey to other supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco and Morrisons that was adorned with the cheeky message: "break in case of emergency... or just book your delivery at Iceland.co.uk."
Iceland's new delivery slots will come as a saving grace to some who are still scrambling for a delivery slot, as there are thousands available across Scotland and the UK between December 13 to 18.
The food retailer has also confirmed that anyone booking a delivery slot will be guaranteed delivery before the big day arrives.
To pull it off, Iceland has laid on an extra 130 vans to cater to the increased demand.
This year has been even busier and Iceland have responded to their fully booked competitors with a tongue in cheek message.
It comes as new research reveals that 39% of Brits say they have been left out in the cold in previous years when it comes to a food delivery and one in three (32%) have been forced to pay a premium for slots during Christmas week.
The research also found that shoppers are fed up with Christmas slots being booked up far in advance of the big day, with a third (33%) having experienced considerable frustration at the Christmas booking process and the overwhelming majority (84%) believing this practice encourages a panic booking frenzy.
Meanwhile 43% of online food shoppers are worried they won’t get a delivery slot this year and a third (33%) have had to forgo a traditional Christmas dinner, because delivery slots were booked up.
Amongst those left without a Christmas delivery slot, 33% had to opt instead for a chicken and nearly 1 in 10 had no choice but to tuck into a pizza (9%) on December 25.
The initiative by Iceland follows a major expansion of its delivery network last year, which resulted in an increase on peak delivery capacity by over 375%.
Jen Bartle, Head of Delivered Sales at Iceland said: “By laying on 130 additional vans we’ve managed to ensure that we will have 450,000 delivery slots to answer increased demand by customers for their all-important home food delivery this Christmas.
"With our help, there should be no need for an emergency turkey dash this year. However, we do remind customers that although we can get the turkey to your front door, we can’t be held responsible for any accidental over-cooking”.
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