Ocado and Marks and Spencer dispatched 329,000 orders per week in Q4
Ocado (LON:OCDO) confirmed on Thursday that its sales surged by 39% in Q4, as the current lockdown buoyed demand for food at home.
The company anticipates a return to its normal results but offered no profit guidance for the coming year.
The size of an average order was recorded at £147 as families that remained in their homes purchased more goods. As a result, sales went up by two-fifths from the quarter the year before which was unaffected by the pandemic.
The partnership between Ocado and Marks and Spencer dispatched 329,000 orders per week during the 13 weeks to the end of February. The number was a small rise on the year before which displayed the limits of its automated picking capacity.
AJ Bell investment director, Russ Mould, commented on the performance of the group’s partnership with Marks & Spencer, as well as the continued trend of online shopping.
“Ocado’s latest update focuses on its joint venture with Marks & Spencer rather than the whole group, which means we don’t get the news people really want to hear – namely if it has managed to sign up any new grocery customers for its technology platform,” said Mould.
“The venture with Marks & Spencer is doing well, so there is reason to be cheerful when looking at Ocado’s performance. Revenue has been soaring which reflects how the country continues to flock to the online channel to buy food and drink. Ocado is increasing capacity for order volumes via new mini fulfilment centres.”
Melanie Smith, Ocado Retail’s chief executive, also commented on the update:
“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,” Smith said.
“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.”
 confirmed on Thursday that its sales surged by 39% in Q4, as the current lockdown buoyed demand for food at home.){kind=link}