Ocado thanked their new world-beating robot warehouse for a third quarter growth in revenue of 11.5 per cent.
The online retailer pulled in £348.6 million in the 13 weeks up to September, £26m up on the same time last year, after unveiling what will be the world’s largest automated distribution centre in Erith, east London.
Their distribution centres stand out for being fully automated, featuring robot handlers on tracks that drop items into shopping baskets for delivery. Their new robots in Erith were so quick that they have already packed bags for 20,000 in 14 weeks, with its sister warehouse in Andover taking 15 months to achieve the same number, according to Tim Steiner, Ocado’s chief executive officer.
Steiner said: “The new capacity from Andover and Erith, our robotic third and fourth warehouses, is helping meet consumer demand for our services and drive the channel shift which is transforming grocery retailing in the UK.
“We are proud to have opened our Erith Customer Fulfilment Centre this summer on time and on budget. At full capacity, this latest state-of-the-art CFC will be the largest automated warehouse for online grocery in the world. We are delighted to report that last week Erith processed over 20,000 customer orders 14 weeks after opening, a number which took Andover 15 months to achieve.
Steiner added that the company was “on track to deliver a significant number of new CFCs” in the coming years, adding they were “changing the way the world shops”.
Ocado also posted double digit growth in average orders per week of 11.4 per cent with average order size stable at £106.
