This February, Ocado published its annual report for 2020. Titled “Reimagining Shopping”, it covers the 52 weeks prior to the end of November 2020 and provides a detailed summary of its performance in a very unusual year, as well as insight into its focuses for the future.
Below is summary of the most relevant insights from the report
- The key takeaway is Ocado’s growing clout in the grocery market. It’s share of the online grocery market almost doubled to 14% and its total market share grew from 1.2% to 1.7%, increasing its importance as a retail partner for brands.
- Despite Covid and significantly increased sales “the business managed to maintain leading service metrics for on time delivery, and accuracy, keeping substitutions below 4%.”
- To keep pace with growing demand, it is opening three new Customer Fulfilment Centres, which will increase capacity by 40%. This should mean a greater opportunity for new brands to become stockists and for existing partners to increase their number of SKUs.
- On the 1st September, Ocado started stocking Marks & Spencer products instead of Waitrose branded items. The report claims this to have been a big success, with 98% of retail shoppers buying M&S products just weeks after the switch
- Brands can deepen their relationship with Ocado by aligning themselves with the company’s values and goals. The report has provided some insight into what these are
- Ocado Retail is targeting net zero emissions by 2040
- The Ocad0 Waste initiative is seeing it focus on packaging, amongst other things, to reduce waste
- Its Corporate Responsibility agenda has three elements: Natural Resources (i.e. reducing the environmental impact from itself and its partners), Skills for the Future (upskilling its team) and Responsible Sourcing (working with partners with ethical supply chains) and
The report can be read in full here:
https://www.ocadogroup.com/investors/reports-and-presentations/year/all