The frantic pace of modern life means that time is a precious commodity. And like all commodities, we are reluctant to squander it. Innovators are forever designing ways to reduce and even eliminate the demands which hijack our free time. And with the online supermarket, they've come up trumps.

For the first time, Irish consumers can order groceries over the Internet and have them delivered directly to their homes. We need never again face beat-the clock sprints to the local supermarket, monotonous queues and heavy bags. Superquinn, followed quickly by Tesco Ireland, has just started offering its services on-line. Though currently limited in reach, both services plan to expand over the coming weeks.

"We have been looking at the idea of online shopping as a customer convenience for many years", says Superquinn's marketing director, Eamonn Quinn. "We all live busy lifestyles and people find it difficult to get to the shop every week. This way, they can plan their lives a little better."

Although still in its infancy in Ireland, the virtual supermarket is not new. Since its introduction in the US, UK and throughout Europe, consumer-oriented e-commerce has proved a valuable source of revenue for enterprising retailers. The widely applied "clicks and mortar" model has had particularly positive results, with traditional "bricks and mortar" stores going online to complement rather than supplant their existing services.

"Many people alternate between shopping online and shopping in-store," says Dermot Breen, director of corporate affairs with Tesco Ireland. "Our UK research found that approximately 50 per cent of people who use the online service, hadn't previously shopped at Tesco. It's a matter of convenience. The online service is not exclusive, but rather an additional convenience option for customers."

According to Ali Murdoch, chief executive officer of Buy4Now, Ireland's first retail portal which offers the Superquinn service, having a bricks and mortar presence can facilitate the success of online trading. "There are a number of US and UK examples," he says, "where stores which went online were successful because they were known by customers. We've levered that concept in combination with the success of food deliveries in the UK, where there's a huge demand for purchasing food online."

While Internet retailing has a proven track record in the UK, a recent covert study of 102 online companies by the Trading Standards Institute, found that almost 40 per cent of orders did not arrive on time, while 17 per cent did not arrive at all. So will Irish consumers be similarly disappointed?

"Online retailing cannot be done as an opportunistic thing", says Breen. "It must be a genuine effort to improve customer service. Tesco is leading the UK Internet shopping boom because it was extensively researched. Tesco Ireland is starting with a certain level of service, but would hope to expand the number of staff and delivery vans as demand increases."

Superquinn, too, has addressed the delivery issue. It employs a trucking company, ITS, to deliver goods within two-hour delivery slots, for example, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at a set cost of £5 to the customer. Like Tesco, goods are sourced in the supermarkets themselves rather than from a warehouse.

"It's not in our interest to provide a sub-standard service," says Quinn. "If somebody tries something new and it doesn't work, they won't come back. The greatest difficulty was getting the logistics right in terms of delivery. The delivery slots make things easier. It's like shopping by appointment. We know how many drops a van can make, so we take a limited number of bookings for each slot."

The most obvious concerns people have about buying over the Internet relate to the protection of their consumer rights and personal security. As both Superquinn and Tesco have a real world presence, you have more comeback than with retailers which exist only in cyberspace. According to Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers' Association of Ireland, "your rights remain the same whether you buy your groceries over the Internet or at the local supermarket."

Both retailers provide customer helplines to deal with queries and complaints about their online services. And to protect privacy, both sites are housed on secure servers. This should keep your personal and credit card details from unauthorised access.

Although online retailing increases pressure on small and medium-sized businesses, Pat Delaney, managing director of the Small Firms Association (SFA), believes that Internet shopping is a positive trend.

"Small shops, medium shops and big shops will all have to respond to this," he says. "It doesn't matter if you're a small company trading out of a laneway in Cork or a large company trading off Grafton Street, everyone has to adapt. It's an efficient way to deal with customers."

Several larger retailers, however, have yet to secure an online presence. While Marks & Spencer does not currently provide an online facility, it plans to implement one in the "near future". A spokesperson for Dunnes Stores told The Irish Times that while it is "considering making groceries available online, there are no immediate plans to do so".

Superquinn4food currently services the Lucan, Walkinstown, Dun Laoghaire, Blackrock and Bray areas of Dublin. The outlet's supplementary services, Superquinn4wine and Superquinn4gifts, should be operational within the next month.

Tesco's service runs from Shankill to Foxrock to Ballsbridge/Sandymount in Dublin, and covers all of Cork city and the outlying towns. Those Tesco customers can have their goods delivered between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. or 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily at a fixed rate of £6. Both online services will be rolled out to other locations as customer demand intensifies.

There's little doubt that the online retail revolution is finally here, but what have the consumers to say?

"It's something I would certainly use," says sales executive Felicity O'Sullivan from Christchurch in Dublin. "When you don't have a car, the weekly trip to the supermarket is nightmarish. I think it will catch on. People are too busy to spend their weekends trawling through supermarkets."

"It's more convenient than in-store delivery services," says Helen Mullen from Raheny, mother of two children. "You don't even have to leave the house. The only problem is that not everyone can use the Internet. I'm not overly familiar with it myself, but I'd get someone in the family to order for me. I wouldn't use it every week, though. Sometimes you just want to have a look around."

One person who won't be using the services is pensioner Tommy Galvin from Stillorgan who was shopping in Tesco's Jervis Street branch last weekend. "I don't have a computer and I've never used the Internet so it's not something I'm interested in. I wouldn't know where to start. Anyway, I've always done my own shopping - I don't like it much but it's what I'm used to," he adds.

"I have bought things over the Internet before," says Stephanie Farrell from Kimmage who works in insurance. "But I'd only do grocery shopping online as a last resort. I like to see what I'm buying. I would imagine it's very messy if something goes wrong. At least when you're in a shop, you can examine the goods beforehand."

Superquinn's Internet service can be accessed at: www.buy4now.ie; Tesco's is at www.tesco.ie