U.K.'s Ocado says grocery shopping has "changed for good"
The grocery landscape worldwide is changing "for good", British online supermarket Ocado has said, after a year in which the global pandemic forced many people to buy online for the first time.
Ocado's comments came as it reported a 35% jump in sales over the past year. Amid rocketing demand the company, which has partnered with Kroger in the U.S. to build distribution centers, narrowed losses from £214.5m to £44m.
“The rapid acceleration of many pre-existing trends in business and society has been a feature of the Covid-19 crisis, and the dramatic channel shift in grocery is a clear example of this,” Chief Executive Tim Steiner said in a statement.
"The landscape for food retailing is changing for good", he said.
Ross Hindle, from research firm Third Bridge, said: "These are not just results, these are remarkable results. Ocado couldn't have asked for better trading conditions.
The company said many customers were saying they were unlikely to revert to pre-crisis shopping habits.
Ocado's chief executive, Tim Steiner, said he wanted to "pay tribute to the remarkable work of our colleagues in exceptionally challenging circumstances".
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