Tesco has opened a 115,000 square foot delivery packing dotcom store in north London that could send its share in the online food sector to over 50 per cent.
Its online stores look like ordinary Tesco branches inside but there are no checkouts and no customers.
Eight Personal Shoppers work on each aisle picking out orders but, rather than picking up a new basket each time, baskets come to them on conveyor belts.
This automation allows the 700 staff at the Enfield site to pick and pack twice as many orders as employees at its three other dotcom stores in Greenford, Aylesford and Croydon.
It is currently serviced by 80 delivery vans but Tesco has built the facility large enough to work with double, offering an insight into how much more popular it expects its online grocery business to become.
The supermarket says that in more densely-populated areas, such as London, it makes sense to build dedicated packing sites where it can pack and deliver 12,000 trays per day.
Tesco explained products are stacked according to their popularity with customers to make packing more efficient, but this can lead to displays that would normally be a little worrying.
“That means that you can often find an unusual mix of product sharing shelf space - for example whisky next to cornflakes or pasta sauce next to crackers,” Tesco said.
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