Waitrose opens first online fulfilment centre
Waitrose will start to despatch orders from its first online groceries fulfilment centre tomorrow.
The new 37,000 sq ft centre in Acton, West London will offer customers one-hour delivery slots and will add an extra ten hours for weekday deliveries by extending the window to 7 am – 11 pm from the current 8 am – 10 pm. The retailer will offer all-year-round free delivery for all orders over £50.
Waitrose, which began offering online shopping in London in July, has until now been fulfilling orders through 19 branches in the capital where in some cases orders have tripled in the last ten weeks.
The new centre will initially handle two thousand orders a week. Fourteen Waitrose branches will continue to deliver orders for customers in some parts of the city.
Over 200 new jobs have been created as a result of the development with all the new employees becoming Partners in Waitrose. The retailer said their focus will be on giving customers the “personal touch” service for meeting requests for items such as green bananas or extra-thick slices of ham.
The facility has been created from a former John Lewis distribution centre and incurred £3 million in conversion costs.
Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, said: “We see huge potential for our online business across the country and in the important London market and this new Fulfilment Centre is a big step forward in meeting the incredibly strong demand for Waitrose products, service and value in the capital.”
