Supermarket price wars affect Ocado

The average order size has shrunk to £111.64 for the 12 weeks to 10 August, from £113.54 for the same period in the previous year.  The retailer has, however, managed to increase its sales by attracting 20% more customers. It received an average of around 163000 orders every week during the quarter, which is a 17.4% increase on the previous year.  The group remains confident of an increase in overall sales, despite the challenging market.

Grocery retailers are in the starting blocks of a price war among supermarkets as they try to claim back market share from Aldi and Lidl. Ocado stated that group sales, including revenues from them running Morrisons’ online store, increased 22.5% to reach £231.9m during the quarter.  Excluding the partnership with Morrisons, sales increased by 15.5% to £218.5m for the quarter.

This performance has put Ocado in a stronger position than its building-based competitors that are experiencing a decline in sales.  Morrisons posted a decline of 7.4% in like-for-like sales for the first half of the year.  Sainsbury and Tesco reported declines of 1.1% and 3.7% in their sales levels.

The online grocery market is growing at about 15% per annum in the UK.  It currently accounts for about 5% of the total grocery sales, but is expected to double this amount over the next five-year period to reach £17bn.

The average order size has shrunk to £111.64 for the 12 weeks to 10 August, from £113.54 for the same period in the previous year.  The retailer has, however, managed to increase its sales by attracting 20% more customers. It received an average of around 163000 orders every week during the quarter, which is a 17.4% increase on the previous year.  The group remains confident of an increase in overall sales, despite the challenging market.

Grocery retailers are in the starting blocks of a price war among supermarkets as they try to claim back market share from Aldi and Lidl. Ocado stated that group sales, including revenues from them running Morrisons’ online store, increased 22.5% to reach £231.9m during the quarter.  Excluding the partnership with Morrisons, sales increased by 15.5% to £218.5m for the quarter.

This performance has put Ocado in a stronger position than its building-based competitors that are experiencing a decline in sales.  Morrisons posted a decline of 7.4% in like-for-like sales for the first half of the year.  Sainsbury and Tesco reported declines of 1.1% and 3.7% in their sales levels.

The online grocery market is growing at about 15% per annum in the UK.  It currently accounts for about 5% of the total grocery sales, but is expected to double this amount over the next five-year period to reach £17bn.