Waitrose.com passes new milestone of 150,000 orders per week
Waitrose has revealed that its online business has processed more than 150,000 orders in a week for the first time.
The milestone means the retailer’s weekly online orders are now more than double those processed at the start of the year.
Waitrose is also adding 150 new delivery vans to its fleet to enable it to increase its delivery slots further during the coming weeks. Demand for online slots at Waitrose.com is still outstripping supply due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although the retailer has been giving elderly and vulnerable customers priority. In addition, its Waitrose Rapid service has recently trebled its deliveries to 7,000 per week, with at least 40% of the slots reserved for vulnerable customers. The service offers up to 25 products for delivery within two hours.
The retailer has been scaling up its online operation since the beginning of the year and in February announced that a further 24 shops would be made delivery shops between now and 1 September, when Waitrose.com becomes the only place shoppers can order Waitrose food online. Three of the 24 shops are due to go live with a delivery service this week.
Waitrose.com director Ben Stimson said: “The expansion plans we had in place for Waitrose.com have allowed us to respond as best we can to the huge surge in demand in recent months – especially from vulnerable groups who need home delivery services. We’re seeing a fundamental shift to many people’s shopping habits, and we’re incredibly proud of how our shops have scaled up our online operations at such speed.”
