The tie up with Booker has been the "answer to Iceland's e-commerce prayers", said home shopping director Jon Grey this week. As Iceland uses Booker's depots and extended grocery range to "ramp up" its own online offer, Grey said: "Booker has given us a unique opportunity to give online customers a far larger range of goods than is available instore. The average store stocks between 3,500 and 4,000 lines. If we fulfil from Booker depots and use its superior grocery range ­ wines, spirits, fresh meats ­ we can bring that figure to around 10,000." Early feedback from trials sourcing from two depots in the north west and the Midlands had been "extremely encouraging", he said. The online basket spend in areas increased to "well above" Iceland's average of £70. Ultimately, most orders could be fulfilled via Booker depots, said Grey. "The vital thing is to get the proposition exactly right before it is rolled out. But we're very close to the optimum formula now." The online site has already attracted 250,000 registered customers without cannibalising store sales, he claimed. "Most of our online customers are the classic internet shoppers ­ time poor, cash rich. That's not the typical Iceland store customer." Although delays in the rollout of digital TV via Telewest and ntl had prevented Iceland from building up its home shopping service on cable as quickly as it had hoped, it still sees TV as a key part of the its multi channel approach to e-commerce, added Grey. The newest development uses cable/internet hybrid ICTV. "You go to the Iceland site on cable, pick up the phone and talk to an onscreen operator who will shop for you as you watch him on TV." Trials are just starting in the Midlands. {{NEWS }}

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