Losses at online supermarket Ocado have almost tripled. It comes as costs rise and shoppers buy fewer items than they were doing during the pandemic.
Customers bought on average 46 items per visit to the supermarket’s online store last year, down from 52 the year before but the same as before the Covid outbreak. The amount that each customer spent per shop in the company’s supermarket arm fell from £129 in 2021 to £118 last year.
It is unclear how much of this is due to the cost of living and how much is the return to normal after the pandemic. Average shopping basket sizes and how much a customer spent per shop soared during the pandemic - in 2019 average basket values were £106.
The company’s costs have soared, putting pressure on loss, which went from £177 million in 2021 to £501 million last year. However, chief executive Tim Steiner said he had never been more confident in the company’s business plans.
“Over the last year every company has had its business model tested by a combination of macro-economic and geopolitical headwinds, and I am pleased that, thanks to the creativity and commitment of my colleagues, we have more confidence in our model than ever before,” he said.
Mr Steiner added: “Ocado Retail, our UK joint venture with M&S, has shown its resilience against a backdrop of higher costs and smaller baskets, reflecting the Covid unwind and the UK cost-of-living crisis, by growing customer numbers and increasing online market share As the Covid unwind fades and customer growth continues the business will start to recover the fixed costs of recent capacity commitments.”
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Revenue was a little over £2.5 billion, up 0.6% compared to the year before and slightly lower than analysts had expected.
