Robust plans in place as Waitrose prepares for life after Ocado

Waitrose is adding its online delivery service to 24 more UK stores in preparation for its split from Ocado.

From 1st September, the latter is going to lose the right to sell any Waitrose products, following a multi-million pound deal with Marks and Spencer. Waitrose food and drink will then be exclusively available at Waitrose.com.

Hailsham will be the first of the 24 stores to receive a Waitrose.com service. Currently 150 of the retailer’s stores cover deliveries across the country with 84% of active UK postcodes able to order online shopping.

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In addition to this, work is underway with the current online stores, to further increase their order capacity. And a new Customer Fulfilment Centre is due to open in Enfield in the coming months to respond to demand in London.

“September offers the single biggest growth opportunity for our business and we're investing heavily to achieve it. We're not starting from scratch. Waitrose.com is growing significantly ahead of the market and we already deliver to tens of thousands of customers each week, added to the millions who visit our shops,” says Digital Director Ben Stimson.

“We have robust plans in place to extend our reach ahead of September. We have significant investment planned for the coming months across our infrastructure, website and service, creating more delivery slots and employing a fleet of new drivers. And adding online capability to these 24 more of our shops will mean we can reach even more of the country.”

He adds that the retailer’s head office team is working across the website and apps to make the service better, faster and more convenient. And its chefs and product developers will be launching or redeveloping more than 5,000 own label products this year.

“We are well prepared for the boost in demand and capacity has already been tested with our busiest ever online order week - the week before Christmas in 2019,” Stimson concludes.

Over to you M&S and Ocado…