Supermarkets are losing £100 million a year propping up their online delivery services.
While supermarkets often charge £3 or £4 for each home delivery, the actual cost to them is £20, researchers working on a show set to air tonight on Channel 4 found.
Retail analyst Dave McCarthy tells Dispatches: 'The transition from in-store retailing to online retailing in the grocery market is losing the industry £100 million profit per annum.
'When a customer switches from shopping in a store to shopping online, it is a lot less profitable for the retailer, which suffers a double whammy. The store loses profits from the lost sales and, importantly, a contribution to fixed costs such as rates, energy and the store manager’s wages.
'Discount supermarkets are growing at twice the rate of online shopping, yet the big four keep investing and chasing online custom.
'How much trade would these supermarkets lose if they stopped online? The answer is not as much as they are losing out to the growth of discount supermarkets.'
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have seen combined lost sales of more than £3 billion in recent years, and have slashed thousands of jobs.
Dispatches: Supermarket Wars will be shown on Channel 4 at 8pm tonight (28 July).
