Online retailer Ocado has grown revenue by 11.6 per cent in the 14 weeks to 3 December compared to the same time last year.
The company, which said orders from its Andover facility are up 50 per cent since the beginning of the quarter, also announced a new tie-up with Groupe Casino to develop its online food business.
Overall, average order size is stable as inflation has picked up, which has offset the slight increase in order frequency, the retailer said.
Chief executive Tim Steiner said: 'We are pleased to report another quarter of progress in both our retail and Ocado Solutions businesses.
'We are delighted that Groupe Casino chose to partner with Ocado Solutions to develop its online food business and we remain confident in our ability to sign more deals such as this in the medium term.
“We are also encouraged by the progress we have made ramping up capacity at our revolutionary Customer Fulfilment Centre in Andover which has supported further growth in our retail business in the UK.
“We are making good progress with the resiliency issues we highlighted with the third quarter results and although there is still work to do we are on track with our plans.'
Despite reporting double-digit sales growth, Steiner said a shortage of capacity and a lack of drivers in certain locations is still limiting the business. “While this driver shortage has now been largely resolved, there was some short-term impact on average orders per week over the period,” he said.
Ocado is gearing up to open its fourth depot, in Erith, south east London, in 2018, expected to handle an additional 200,000 orders per week. “Building scale and capacity in the UK will support the sustainable growth of our retail business, enabling us to take further market share in online grocery, and we look forward to the coming year with confidence,” Steiner added.
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