The group’s total online sales in the UK grew by 10.2% to £6.8bn last year, including a c.3ppts contribution from Whoosh. Overall sales growth was primarily driven by an increase in average online orders per week, which rose 10.8% to 1.3 million, with basket size (excluding Whoosh) up 3.6% to £109.
Meanwhile, Whoosh saw sales almost double in the year, with a further improvement in customer satisfaction and growth in average basket size as it expanded the depth of the product range. After launching in 2021, the rapid delivery service is now available in over 1,500 Tesco stores, including 42 large outlets, with active customers up 48%.
“What we’re seeing in our larger stores is that instead of 3,000 products, customers have access to nearly 15,000 products. We’re seeing bigger basket sizes, and I think it’s quite a valuable service for our customers,” Murphy explained.
It was revealed yesterday that Tesco Whoosh had become the first partner of Deliveroo Express, a new white label solution that enables grocers and other retailers to offer on-demand delivery directly through their own online channels.
Initially operating out of three stores in Ireland, the supermarket is leveraging Deliveroo’s infrastructure and network of around 2,500 riders to provide the on-demand service in the country.
Meanwhile, Tesco highlighted the progress it was making with its new Marketplace, which offers a broad range of non-food products online through third-party sellers.
Having launched in June last year, the operation now offers over 400,000 products, with more sellers and category launches planned for later this year. “We are encouraged with customer satisfaction scores, and trading through Black Friday was particularly successful,” Tesco said.
“Our priority has been laying the foundations for growth, adding, for instance, the capability to offer customers Clubcard Prices when they shop on Tesco Marketplace.”
NamNews Implications:
- ‘Online basket size (excluding Whoosh) up 3.6% to £109’…
- …is the way to make online fulfilment profitable…
- …at which point, all systems go.
- With Whoosh the icing on the online-cake!