AO.com has ended its in-store trial with Tesco, after opening five concessions in the Big 4 grocer’s Extra stores in the autumn of 2020.
The partnership marked the electric retailer’s first move into physical retail space and was interrupted by Covid lockdowns as concessions were classed as ‘non-essential’.
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The cost-of-living crisis has played a role in AO.com’s concession closures with the retailer lowering its sales expectation for the year ending in April.
At the time the retailer warned that “volatile market conditions, inflationary cost pressures and logistical challenges in the supply chain, together with the escalating cost of living for consumers” would affect its performance.
As a result, AO.com said it would focus on cash generation and would optimise its cost base “to align with the expected lower levels of revenues”.
The news comes after Tesco’s legal ban on using the ‘fire and rehire’ employment tactic was overruled by the Court of Appeal last week.
The original dispute saw Tesco banned from using the controversial practice after it had been found to dismiss a number of staff at its distribution centres before then seeking to re-employ them on less favourable contracts.
