Waitrose is shaping up to greatly expand its online grocery business outside London after cooling the fires on a row with Ocado.
A five-year contract between Waitrose and Ocado will give the latter exclusivity in London but allow the Waitrose Deliver service to expand to cover 125 of its supermarkets outside the M25, according to The Times.
Waitrose owns a minority stake in Ocado, the online supplier that delivers its groceries, making an agreement, of which the details have not been released, hard to reach before now.
Ocado had claimed it had the right to shut down Waitrose Deliver during the first few years of its contract, leading to tension between supplier and retailer.
Waitrose has increased the number of stores offering Waitrose Deliver outside London by 60 per cent, from 40 to 94, in just over a year, leading to an 85 per cent increase in internet purchases of groceries.
Waitrose has budgeted up to £1.5 million for its newly restructured website, with features such as a a virtual shopping list, the Shopping Jotter, aimed at drawing in an online customer base.
Waitrose Deliver aims to cover 31 further stores by the end of this year, which will represent 92 per cent of stores nationwide.
Ambitious plans to double sales in 2009-10 indicate the service aims to hit over £100m in turnover, after registering £80m last financial year.
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