Ocado reports 16.4% increase in Q3 sales
Ocado saw a 16.4% increase in gross sales in the 12 weeks to 11 August as the online grocer grew both its customer orders and average basket size.
Sales rose to £189.2 million from £162.6 million in the same period in the previous year as the number of average orders per week increased by 15.3% to 138,889 and the average order size edged up 1% to £113.54.
During the period, Ocado completed an agreement with Morrisons to provide operational and intellectual property services to enable the supermarket to launch its own online grocery business in 2014.
It also completed sale and leaseback arrangements of Dordon Customer Fulfilment Centre to Morrisons resulting in payments of £138.3 million under the arrangements and the full repayment of bank facility. The grocer said it had now begun a second phase of development at the Dordon centre to facilitate the Morrisons arrangements.
Never Miss a Retail Update!In a trading statement Tim Steiner, Ocado chief executive, said: “We are encouraged by the continuing momentum in sales growth, reflecting an increase in both orders and basket size. We remain focused on improving the proposition to customers to make it easier for consumers to shop at Ocado, from an ever wider range, and at competitive prices. This should support further growth as the demand for online grocery shopping continues.
“During the period, we successfully completed our agreement with Morrisons. We now look forward to the launch of this business in early 2014, firmly endorsing our operating model and IP for online grocery services.”
