Online supermarket Ocado has upgraded its guidance after revenue surged during its fiscal third quarter.
The retail arm of the London-listed group, Ocado Retail, a 50:50 joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer Group, reported revenue growth of 15 per cent in the 13 weeks to 1 September 2024.
Revenue jumped to £658m in the period, up from £569m in the same period of 2023.
Sales volumes hit 249.9m items from 216.5m in the same period last year, and the average number of orders per week surged to 437,000 from 381,000 year on year.
The number of active customers on the Ocado platform also increased, reaching just over 1m, up 10 per cent from 961,000 in the year before.
As a result, Ocado revised its outlook, now anticipating revenue growth in the low double digits, up from its earlier forecast of mid-to-high single digits.
The supermarket’s growth in sales volume helped to offset a slight decrease in the average selling price, which fell by per cent, versus UK grocery inflation of two per cent.
Ocado said this had been driven by “continued investment in price driving further improvements in value perception”.
Hannah Gibson, Ocado Retail’s CEO, said: “Our strategy remains focused on giving our customers unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value.
“We’re seeing the momentum of this, with more customers shopping with us more often, getting even better service at better value. We know what our customers love, and we’re focused on our proposition every day.
“This includes our widest ever choice including more M&S food, more convenience with better availability of delivery slots and products, further improving our high perfect order rate and better value for money through our Ocado price promise and our latest big price drop.
“We’re pleased with the progress we’re making and excited about how much more there is to deliver.”