M&S products could be available via Ocado sooner than next September, the company’s CFO Duncan Tatton-Brown said today.
September 2020 is when Ocado’s deal with Waitrose comes to an end and considered the date M&S’s products will replace Waitrose’s on Ocado’s website.
But speaking as Ocado announced its third quarter results this morning, Tatton-Brown said there was a “chance that may come forward” subject to Waitrose’s agreement.
He said it could be in the interests of all parties to gradually swap the ranges.
“It may well be in the interests of Waitrose, some of Waitrose’s suppliers and ourselves and M&S for that transition to be slightly more spread,” he said.
Because it was “about an agreement” being reached, it could begin at “any date,” he added.
Ocado Retail, the 50:50 joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S, reported revenue growth of 11.4% in the 13 weeks to 1 September.
Average orders per week grew 12.1% as more delivery slots became available, but the average order size fell by 0.8%, which Ocado said reflected slightly greater purchase frequency.
Tatton-Brown said he shared the concerns of other retailers about the potential for shortages of fresh produce after Brexit.
“Our ability to significantly stock up is limited because we sell a lot of fresh food which we can’t [stockpile],” he said.
“We can’t stock up on raspberries, we can’t stock up on Italian mozzarella because it doesn’t have a long shelf life.
“I think we would share the same concerns as the industry.”
Tatton-Brown also revealed robot picking was now live at Ocado’s Erith customer fulfilment centre.
The machines are able to handle individual products and pack them into totes. They have the potential to replace humans who work in Ocado’s automated CFCs alongside the existing robots that collect the packed totes.
Tatton-Brown said the new technology was now being used to pack orders at a single picking station at the facility.
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