Ocado Christmas sales hit ‘highest ever level’

Ocado delivered a strong Christmas as it hit its highest-ever sales level in the peak trading period, recording a 7% increase in sales as it sold over 90% of peak Christmas slots released between December 22 and December 24.

In a trading update for the 13 weeks to November 2023, the retailer reported a 10.9% rise in sales to £609.4m, marking a fourth consecutive period of quarter-on-quarter growth and an increase of 7.2% compared to Q3.

Volumes grew consistently over the period, up 4.8% year on year, while average orders per week grew 6.3% year on year to 407,000.

The retailer’s full-year revenue grew 7% to £2.3bn but sales volume was down 0.9% “given the drag in the first half due to the unwinding from the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis”.

Ocado Retail chief executive Hannah Gibson said: “We made significant progress in 2023. We have focused first and foremost on being a great shopkeeper, improving our unbeatable range, great value and unrivalled experience − all underpinned by improved cost efficiencies. Our Perfect Execution programme set a high bar for our performance and we are pleased to have finished the year with strong momentum. Thank you to everyone at Ocado Retail, M&S and Ocado Group who’ve worked so hard to deliver the first year of our strategy and these encouraging results.

”We are starting the new year with over one million active customers. Over the next 12-18 months, we will be embedding the foundations we have laid this year and raising the bar again for online grocery shopping. We have a really strong platform to build on in 2024.”