Ocado Retail, a joint venture between the Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer, has announced a 10.6% increase in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 (Q1 FY24), reaching £645.3m ($815.5m) from £583.7m in Q1 FY23.
The growth is attributed to a significant rise in the volume of items sold and an increase in average weekly orders.
During the 13 weeks to 03 March 2024, the company experienced an 8.1% year-on-year rise in total items sold, reaching 242.1 million compared to 223.9 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
Average orders per week also saw an 8.4% increase from 382,000 to 414,000, indicating a robust growth in active customers. Customer numbers increased 6.4% to 1.02 million by the end of the quarter.
Ocado Retail's average basket value experienced a modest rise of 2.1%, increasing from £122.94 in Q1 FY23 to £125.47 in Q1 FY24.
Average basket size remained stable year-on-year at 45 items.
Ocado Retail CEO Hannah Gibson said: "We have made a strong start to the year, building on the momentum we established in 2023 through the progress of our Perfect Execution programme.
“We are delivering improvements in our proposition for customers, across unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value.
“During the first quarter, we stepped up our efforts: enriching our product range with the strong growth of core M&S grocery lines and the debut of Makers' Market, using our unique model to showcase incredible small brands, further enhancing slot and product availability and lowering the price of 1,700 more products in our latest Big Price Drop promotion alongside further expanding the Ocado own range.”
The retailer re-affirmed the guidance provided on 29 February 2024 with Ocado Group's FY23 results.
Ocado Retail anticipates mid to high single-digit revenue growth and an underlying EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] margin of 2.5%, which excludes Hatfield fees of £33m per annum.
In March 2024 M&S and Ocado clashed over a £190m ($240m) final payment tied to Ocado Retail.
