Whilst Ocado continued to report sector-leading double-digit sales growth, a shortage of capacity and a lack of divers in certain locations were the largest factors restricting their sales growth. “While this driver shortage has now been largely resolved, there was some short term impact on average orders per week over the period,” Ocado Chief Executive Tim Steiner said.
Following this release, shares initially dipped, then rose over 3%. This continues Ocado’s strong growth trend, and the company is said to be making good progress in increasing capacity at its new fulfilment centre in Andover, where goods are delivered, processed and re-distributed, with order processing up 50 per cent since the beginning of quarter. The group is also planning to open its fourth customer fulfilment centre in South East London in 2018, which will allow it to process an additional 200,000 orders per week.
Only last month, the company also announced a deal with French supermarket Groupe Casino to use Ocado's e-commerce platform to boost Casino's online business, serving the greater Paris area, the Normandie and Hauts de France Regions. As part of the deal, Casino will build a fulfilment centre using Ocado’s mechanical handling equipment.
“Building scale and capacity in the UK will support the sustainable growth of our retail business, enabling us to take further market share in online grocery, and we look forward to the coming year with confidence,” said Mr Steiner.