Ocado has highlighted an increase of functionality at its customer fulfilment centre in Andover in its latest financial results this week.
In its trading statement for the 14 weeks to 3 December, released today, Ocado said that the company had been ramping up capacity at the centre and had processed more than 50% more orders per week than it was doing at the beginning of the period.
However, it said a shortage of capacity – with a lack of drivers in certain locations being the largest factor – had restricted sales growth. Although that had now been largely resolved Ocado’s chief executive Tim Steiner, admitted it had had a short-term impact on average orders per week over the period.
The company is working towards the opening of its fourth customer fulfilment centre which is due to open in Erith, south east London, in 2018. “At scale, Erith will be able to process an additional 200,000 orders per week,” said Steiner. “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,” he said.
Image credit: Ocado
