Ahead of its split from Ocado, Waitrose is set to double its capacity for online grocery orders in London via a new six-acre Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) which opens tomorrow.
The site in Enfield, North London, is initially creating 370 new jobs, building to 850 when at full capacity in September. It will add 13,000 extra weekly delivery slots for the retailer’s customers in the capital.
The CFC is part Waitrose £100m investment plan for its online business as it prepares for the ending of its long-term product agreement with Ocado in September. Ocado will then switch to selling the M&S food range as part of its offer.
Since announcing its national expansion campaign in February, Waitrose has significantly accelerated its plans to meet the increased demand for online shopping during coronavirus outbreak. The retailer revealed that the service has increased by more than 50% in recent weeks to more than 120,000 customer orders per week. However, demand for delivery slots is still outstripping supply.
The new Enfield centre will work alongside its existing site in Coulsdon which delivers grocery orders across the South London area. Waitrose also has a network of 14 delivery shops in the capital which together deliver to all London postcodes. In the last few weeks, 40 shops in London have also been used for click & collect orders.
Waitrose.com Director Ben Stimson said: “Before coronavirus, Waitrose.com was already going through a period of significant expansion, with investment across our infrastructure and website. Enfield was planned as a big part of our expansion plans – but in fact it is now also helping us respond as best we can to the huge demand for online slots – especially from our most vulnerable customers.”
The supermarket has also recently 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.
All the major supermarket chains have seen a significant increase in demand for their online grocery delivery services during the coronavirus outbreak, with analysts suggesting that this switch to shopping from home is unlikely to fully reverse when the government eases the lockdown restrictions.
“The online grocery market is now forecast to grow 25.5% in 2020 – significantly ahead of the 8.5% previously anticipated,” said Thomas Brereton, a retail analyst at research firm GlobalData.
“On top of the initial increase in volume demand (about 30% in April), a continued reluctance to venture to stores for the rest of the year will bolster online market growth over a longer period than instore.”
