Ocado delivered a strong fourth quarter trading period, returning to positive earnings for the full year after celebrating its “biggest Christmas ever”.
The online-only supermarket – which is a joint venture with M&S – hit its highest ever level of sales over the peak Christmas trading period, as sales jumped 10.9% over its fourth quarter.
In its full year, retail revenue grew 7%, in comparison to last year, to £2.3bn.
Average orders per week on Ocado.com also grew 4% year-on-year as the grocer saw an increase in active customers.
Ocado chief executive Hannah Gibson said this positive performance was a result of the it having “focused first and foremost on being a great shopkeeper, improving our unbeatable range, great value and unrivalled experience – all underpinned by improved cost efficiencies”.
She explained that Ocado’s ‘Perfect Execution’ programme has “set a high bar” for its performance.
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The percentage of on time and full orders at the online supermarket has increased six percentage points across the year, with 99% of items delivered as promised and a 24% improvement in products not fulfilled.
The number of M&S products on the site has also increased to around 90% of the upmarket retailer’s range and more Ocado own-brand products have been added.
While volumes across the whole year are down 0.9%, which Ocado attributed to the “drag in the first half from the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis”, volumes grew consistently over the period, up 4.7% year-on-year.
For the 2023/24 year, Ocado is predicting revenue growth in the “mid-high single digits”.
Gibson added: “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.”
To kick off the new year, Ocado reduced prices across more than 1,700 products as part of its Big Price Drop campaign.
The price cuts rolled out across cupboard, fridge, freezer and household items, taking the total number of items reduced since June to more than 3,000.
