Marks & Spencer expands online offer for Ocado launch

Marks & Spencer adds 750 new food products to its online range in preparation of its launch on online grocery platform Ocado next month.

More food than Waitrose

In September, Marks & Spencer will replace premium supermarket chain Waitrose as partner for Ocado, and it is determined to do one better on its predecessor: it will add 6,000 food products to the platform’s range, while Waitrose ‘only’ had 4,000. In order to make that possible, Marks & Spencer is expanding its online food range by 750 products, Retail Gazette reports.

Hundreds of new products are being introduced in stores across the United Kingdom, and more will be added over the course of this month and the next. The retailer focuses on family packs, more grocery items, organic products, frozen meat, fruit and vegetables and soft drinks.

Clothing added

In the non-food department, significantly more products for cleaning are being added. More striking, though, is the surge of 1,600 new items of clothing that are added to the range. These include underwear and T-shirts, and – fittingly – a ‘back to school’ range.

Last year, Marks & Spencer bought 50 % of the shares in the grocery platform for 750 million pounds (then 830 million euros), a deal that results in a public release a year later. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, the launch has not faced any delays, CEO Steve Rowe said.