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Ocado Retail sees Q1 growth surge
StockMarketWire.com
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Ocado Retail, the joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer, has seen a 40% growth in revenue in the 13 weeks to February 28, 2021.
Retail revenue grew from £428.8 million in the 13 weeks to March 1, 2020, to £599 million in the first quarter of 2021.
The growth, Ocado Retail said, is a reflection of strong demand for online groceries and the continuation of a smoothed trading week.
In a trading statement, the company said the average order size was £147, demonstrating seasonal strength over the festive period and a temporary reversal of the trend towards normalised shopping behaviour in response to further lockdown measures in the UK.
M&S products consistently accounted for more than 25% of the average basket.
Ocado Retail is planning to open two standard sized customer fulfilment centres (CFC) in 2021, in addition to its first mini CFC, while a minimum of 12 new micro sites are being sought, primarily in London, to support the roll-out of the Ocado Zoom immediacy concept which offers deliveries within one hour of ordering.
A second mini-CFC will open in 2022 and progress is being made securing sites for further standard sized CFCs
Melanie Smith, Ocado Retail's chief executive officer, said: Over the past year, large numbers of UK consumers have made a permanent shift to online grocery shopping. Ocado Retail is best placed to serve these customers as we continue to improve the customer experience through the joint venture with M&S, adding new products, offering greater value, and maintaining high customer service levels.
We opened one mini-customer fulfilment centre in Bristol last month, which gives us capacity to serve more customers and with the opening of Purfleet and re-opening of Andover, both later this year, we ultimately expect to ramp our overall capacity by 40% with these sites.
Q2 2021 represents the one-year anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic which accelerated the demand for online grocery; while this year's quarterly sales figures will reflect the year-on-year comparisons with periods of full lockdown, we expect strong growth over the coming years as we continue to lead the charge in changing the UK grocery landscape, for good.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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