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Ocado scored a “record-breaking” Christmas with its highest ever level of sales over the peak festive period.
While Ocado did not specify any figures, Kantar said last week Ocado was the fastest-growing retailer over the 12-week Christmas period with sales up 9.6% to £856m. This took its market share to 1.8%
The retailer was boosted by more people choosing to do some of their Christmas grocery shopping online, with total UK online spend for the month reaching a record £1.6bn.
Ocado said efficiency at its customer-fulfilment-centres has improved with average units per hour up 15% on last year to 220. At its newest CFC in Luton, picks-per-hour hit 269 as Ocado further rolled out its ‘On-Grid Robotic Pick.
Over the Christmas period, Ocado’s network exceeded design capacity “demonstrating the further growth potential of our CFCs,” it said.
Ocado’s Christmas update was included in its Q4 trading update for the 13 weeks to 1 December 2024.
Revenue grew by 17.5% to £715.8m in the 13 weeks to 1 December 2024 as the online retailer drew in more loyal shoppers shopping more regularly.
Volumes grew 17.0% year-on-year while average basket sizes remained stable and average prices were flat therefore beating inflation.
It took the online retailer - a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer – to its full year sales target of £2.7bn, up 13.9% on the year before.
Morning update
Fewer companies are expanding their workforces in anticipation of the higher costs announced in the budget, according to a new survey by the British Chambers of Commerce found.
The proportion of employers that hired additional staff fell to 24% in the final three months of the year, down from 27% in the previous quarter.
79% of companies trying to recruit are facing difficulties, up from 76% cent, with manufacturing and logistics among the worst affected sectors.
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