Waitrose Digital Roadshow tackles coronavirus challenges

Waitrose this week held its first virtual Waitrose Digital Roadshow, hosted by Andrew Clarke, UX Lead, and Evangeline Mackie, Digital Product Owner.

“We had four brilliant speakers come and talk to us about how Covid-19 has had an impact on their industries and businesses, as well as how they have had to change the shape of their customer engagement strategy to keep up with digital demand. A big thank you to them all,” Mackie said in a LinkedIn post.

Speakers as follows:

Spencer Matthews, who spoke about his company, The Clean Liquor Co, how alcohol consumption trends have changed during lockdown and how it had to adapt its product development strategy accordingly.

Dan Little - representing Digme Fitness, discussing how the fitness industry has had to adapt to quickly incorporate on demand and entirely digital propositions.

Simon Mayhew from IGD, who shared how retailers, from across the globe, are communicating to online shoppers in the evolving coronavirus pandemic.

Miles Waghorn, who spoke about TechSilver, a technology company offering specialised products and advice for the elderly and those with long-term health conditions, the majority of whom will be classed as vulnerable or high risk.

“Extreme demand”

Waitrose recently opened a six acre customer fulfilment centre in Enfield, North London, as it looks to double its online grocery orders in the capital by September.

The site is creating 370 new jobs, building to 850 when at full capacity, by which time it will be adding 13,000 weekly delivery slots for London customers.

It is part of a £100 million investment in its online business, in preparation for Waitrose.com becoming the only place to buy Waitrose food online from September of this year (when the Ocado/M&S partnership kicks into gear).

Waitrose says that it has also significantly further accelerated plans to try and work towards meeting the “extreme demand” for online shopping from the coronavirus pandemic. Its online delivery service has increased by more than 50% to over 120,000 customer orders per week.

Priority is being given to vulnerable and elderly shoppers, with 35% of orders last week going to shoppers Waitrose is able to identify as being in this group. The retailer concedes, however, that demand is still far outstripping the number it can reach.

The Enfield centre will work alongside an existing one in Coulsdon, which delivers orders across the South London area, and a network of 14 delivery stores in the capital, which together cover all London postcodes. Forty stores in London have also in recent weeks become Click and Collect points. Across the UK, a network of 183 stores reach more than 90% of postcodes.

Waitrose has also more than trebled the size of its Rapid service to 7,000 orders per week, with at least 40% of slots reserved for vulnerable customers. The service offers up to 25 products for delivery within two hours.