(Alliance News) - Ocado Retail Ltd on Tuesday said sales had grown strongly at the start of 2024 boosted by a broader product range and price cuts.
The online-only grocer, a joint venture between Ocado Group PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC, said sales in the 13 weeks to March 3 rose 11% to GBP645.3 million from GBP583.7 million a year before.
Shares in Ocado Group rose 1.6% to 459.80 pence in London on Tuesday. M&S was 0.3% higher at 254.85p in London.
Sales volumes increased 8.1% to 242.1 million items from 223.9 million with the average orders per week rising to 414,000 from 382,000, up 8.4%.
Active customers topped the 1 million mark, rising 6.4% to 1.02 million from 957,000.
The average basket value increased by 2.1% to GBP125.47 from GBP122.94.
Ocado Retail said a continued focus on pricing strategy resulted in average selling price growth of 2.2%, which it added was significantly below the market.
Ocado Retail Chief Executive Officer, Hannah Gibson, said: "We have made a strong start to the year."
"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."
Gibson said there's "still so much more we can" and looked forward to "raising the bar even further in 2024."
Ocado Retail said its guidance issued in February was unchanged.
It continues to target mid-high single digits percentage growth in revenue and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of around 2.5%.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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