UK-based online grocery retailer Ocado has posted a 13.1% increase in retail revenue in its third quarter, with sales reaching £312.7 million.
During the 13 weeks to 28 August, the average number of orders placed per week grew by 16% year on year, to 254,000, however, the average size of orders decreased marginally compared to the same period last year, falling by 1.2%, to £106.25.
"We are pleased to report another strong quarter of growth," said Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner.
"Our industry-leading technology has continued to set the bar for customer service and satisfaction, and we continue to grow sales at a rate significantly in excess of the average for our industry."
Continued Investment
Steiner noted that recent innovations include Ocado becoming the first UK grocer to offer its customers Amazon's Alexa voice-activated tool, meaning that they can verbally modify their online grocery orders.
The company is also increasing capacity at its customer-fulfilment centre in Andover and working on its fourth, and biggest, fulfilment centre in Erith, which is set to open in 2018.
"These investments, while increasing some costs in the short term, will allow us to meet the rapidly growing demand for our services from UK consumers while allowing us to offer the very latest technology to current and future customers of our Ocado Smart Platform," added Steiner.
Commenting on the retailer’s performance, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research said, “Average orders per week increased by 16.0% – a slight increase versus the 15.6% recorded in H1. Basket size fell by 1.2%, compared with -1.4% in H1. No new news regarding international deals. The company notes that it is increasing capacity at CFC3 (Andover) and is preparing CFC4 (Erith), and that this will increase costs in the short term.”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
