Waitrose.com launches national expansion campaign in preparation for its split from Ocado

Friday 28 February 2020

Waitrose is this week starting a national online roll-out programme - adding its Waitrose.com online delivery service to 24 more of its shops across the country. The shops are strategically placed to handle increased demand for the retailer’s online shopping service in preparation for its split from Ocado.

From 1 September, Ocado is going to lose the right to sell any Waitrose products, so Waitrose food and drink will exclusively be available online on Waitrose.com. 

Its Hailsham shop is the first of 24 to be receiving a Waitrose.com service for the first time over the coming months. Currently 150 of the retailer’s shops cover deliveries across the country with 84% of active UK postcodes able to order Waitrose.com shopping. In addition to the new 24 shops, significant work is underway with the current online shops, to further increase their order capacity. And a new Customer Fulfilment Centre is due to open in Enfield in the coming months to respond to a surge in demand in the Capital.

Digital Director Ben Stimson: “September offers the single biggest growth opportunity for our business and we're investing heavily to achieve it. 

“We're not starting from scratch - Waitrose.com is growing significantly ahead of the market and we already deliver to tens of thousands of customers each week, added to the millions who visit our shops. 

“We have robust plans in place to extend our reach ahead of September. We have significant investment planned for the coming months across our infrastructure, website and service - creating more delivery slots and employing a fleet of new drivers. And adding online capability to these 24 more of our shops will mean we can reach even more of the country - we already deliver to 84% of UK postcodes and this is growing all the time. Our teams at head office are working across our website and apps to make our service better, faster and more convenient. And our chefs and product developers will be launching or redeveloping more than 5000 of our own label products this year.

“We are well prepared for the boost in demand and capacity has already been tested with our busiest ever online order week - the week before Christmas in 2019."

About Waitrose & Partners

Waitrose & Partners has 338 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands. It combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop - dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. Waitrose & Partners is an employee-owned business - all employees are Partners and have a say in how the business is run. Waitrose & Partners exports products to more than 50 countries worldwide and has nine shops which operate under licence in the Middle East. The retailer's omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers.