Ocado fears slower growth in online sales

Now that the corona crisis is over, people are rapidly returning to their old habits… and to the supermarkets. British online supermarket Ocado is seeing a drop in demand and expects to grow by 5 % this year.

Back to pre-Covid

The carefree days are over for online supermarkets and grocery deliverers: Deliveroo had to lower expectations earlier today, and now British online shopping specialist Ocado also admits that the year has not started well. At the start of the year, the number of orders increased by 11.6 %, but turnover decreased by 5.7 % compared to a year earlier.

As last year the Covid pandemic was still raging, comparisons are difficult to make, but Ocado Retail is also struggling with inflation, rising energy costs and the uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine. For the whole year, the online supermarket therefore assumes a turnover increase of around 10 %, instead of the previously predicted 15 %.

The average order size was 15 % smaller in the first quarter than last year, as people again consume less at home and go to the office more. Consumers are returning to their old habits, although the number of items per basket is still slightly higher than before the pandemic. Compared to pre-Covid, turnover still increased by 31.7 %. The number of active customers also increased 31 % year-on-year to 835,000. “In the long term, we are confident that the growth trajectory will remain positive,” CEO Melanie Smith concludes.