Ocado Retail kept up its momentum in the final quarter to end the year on a high with a record breaking Christmas.
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.
Hannah Gibson, Ocado Retail’s CEO, said 2024 was a year of strong growth with the business hitting 500,000 orders per week for the first time at the end of November.
“We’ve achieved this growth by being laser focused on customer service and delivering unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value to the households and families that we serve,” she said.
“We’ve made a series of significant improvements - including making sure customers can buy all their favourite M&S products, ensuring our service is near perfect, shifting our value perceptions as customers realise how much we’ve moved on price and helping new customers discover Ocado.”
Ocado added it had also scored a “record-breaking” Christmas with its “highest ever level of sales over the peak Christmas trading period” although did not specify any figures. The Christmas period fell outside of Ocado’s annual results.
NIQ figures last week said Ocado was the fastest-growing retailer over the four-week Christmas period, registering growth of 13.9%, despite a decrease in online share of sales.
Ocado’s priorities for this year are “raising the bar again in our leading customer proposition, making further progress on improving profitability and transitioning the business onto new technology platforms,” Gibson added.
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