Ocado Group chief executive Tim Steiner has said that while he sees demand for ultra-fast grocery services, he doesn’t think the “immediacy premium market will ever be as large as the big basket market”.

He said it will not be the main channel in UK grocery because of the price and premium that comes with rapid delivery.

“I remember Gorillas saying that they were going to be bigger than Ocado Retail by the first half of 2022 and I don’t think they got much beyond 2% of Ocado Retail’s size by the time it left the market. There were ludicrous statements being made,” Steiner stated today (16 July).

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He believes that the online supermarket’s own rapid-delivery service, Zoom by Ocado, has “probably another 12 to 18 months of development to really make it into the product I’d like to see it and to really make it work brilliantly”.

“It’s very good today from a shopper’s perspective. It’s got a bit of work to do from an automation perspective and an ease for the people that operate it, both the courier types and the operators inside Zoom.

“I think we’ve got an interesting future, I just don’t think that the immediacy premium market will ever be as large as the big basket market. I’m pleased we’re in it because we are learning and we’re continuing to improve,” Steiner explained.

It comes as Ocado Group has narrowed its half-year losses as its joint venture with M&S, Ocado Retail, has seen sales surge amid a “market-leading trading performance”.