IGD Retail Analysis reports:

Market share data for the UK Grocery market from TNS has shown a slight slow-down over the past month, with the market growing by 5.2% in the 12 weeks to 6 September 2009.  According to the market research agency, “recession panic” is beginning to leave the mindset of both consumer and retailer alike, with Waitrose proving to be the key beneficiary – growing by 11.2% compared with the previous year, aided by the performance of its ‘essentials’ range, and the acquisition of a number of Co-operative/Somerfield sites.

Ed Garner, Director at TNS Worlpanel, signalled a cautionary note – despite the solid performance from the grocery industry: “This is not to imply that all sectors of the High Street will instantly return to pre-recession growth. Rather that food remains a manageable proportion of most household budgets bys historical standards.

“It is worth noting that there is challenge to the sector coming from the falling grocery inflation rate – this will restrict value growth for the industry going forward.”

12 Week Market Shares

Source: TNS Worldpanel

Katy from Waitrose Customer Services explains “The Waitrose Deliver service is only available in 94 Waitrose branches at present, however do have plans to roll out more branches and will promote this in the relevant branches near the time of launch. Customers wishing to check if we deliver in their area can enter their postcode on our website www.waitrosedeliver.com

Ocado supply Waitrose products online and their website is www.ocado.com Although the assortments differ, both of the services offer the same quality produce you would expect from a Waitrose branch and the same quality of customer care.

The full post can be found here: http://www.waitrose.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=1108

Marie, website editor for Waitrose.com explains: “WaitroseDeliver and Ocado are part of a range of services designed to make shopping at Waitrose even easier. You can order online and choose groceries direct from your local store, or choose from the selection available from our partner Ocado.

With WaitroseDeliver, order your groceries online and you’ll find the same choice of products as you’ll find in your local store. Choose from our award winning fresh food service counters including fish, meat and delicatessen. Your personal shopper will then pick and pack your order in your local store ready for delivery direct to your door. With Ocado you can choose from a wide range of Waitrose products with their easy to use website. Your order will be picked and packed by the Ocado team and delivered to your door at a time to suit you.

With WaitroseDeliver you can leave your personal shopper a note, to tell them how you want them to shop for you. Our service counters allow you to select exactly the amount you need by ordering by the kilo and you can also order other fresh items such as loose bread, fresh flowers plus party and celebration food from WaitroseEntertaining, our flexible food ordering service.

With WaitroseDeliver you’ll find all the same prices and money saving offers that you’ll find in your local store. Ocado prices are similar to Waitrose. There may also be different offers on certain items.”  The full post can be found here: http://www.waitrose.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=323

So in a nutshell:

• You order your shopping online with both WaitroseDeliver and Ocado
• WaitroseDeliver items are picked and packed for you by a member of your local Waitrose store and then delivered to your door.  Customers recieve the benefit of instore promotions and pricing.  Similarly Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s largely operate a pick-in-store model.
• Ocado items are picked and packed for you by an Ocado team member in a warehouse and then delivered to your door.  Customers recieve the benefit of Ocado promotions and pricing.   Many people think Waitrose fully owns Ocado, however it only has a minority stake and a distant one at that. As a result Ocado can charge its customers exactly what it wants under competition law.(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5136317/Ocado-undercuts-Waitrose-starting-an-online-supermarket-price-war.html)
• Waitrose is owned by the John Lewis Partnership.  29% of Ocado is owned by the John Lewis Pension Fund.
• Products, prices and promotions may differ between the Ocado Warehouse and the local Waitrose store. 

Ocado employs more than 3,000 staff and processes on average 12,000 orders a day, offering almost 16,000 lines. It has about 150,000 active users of its service.

Ocado allows Waitrose shoppers the convenience of buying their groceries online and having them home delivered to their door.

Ocado believes ”that you should be able to shop for a fair price without compromising on quality or service. As well as our celebrated Tesco price match* on branded goods, we feature an ever-changing range of special discounts and seasonal offers on our website, and are even trialing a pre-pay delivery scheme to help you save even more on your weekly shop. So you get Tesco prices, Waitrose quality and outstanding Ocado service.”

Benefits of grocery shopping online with Ocado include:

• Ocado have dedicated delivery centres to guarantee the freshness of their groceries.
• Ocado colour-code their grocery bags to make it easier to put your shopping away fast.
• Ocado promote that they deliver fewer missing items and substitutions than their competitors.
• Ocado send each customer a free confirmation text message before they deliver to you.
• Ocado were voted The Grocer magazine’s Online Retailer of the Year twice in the past four years.

* Each week we compare and price match branded goods with Tesco. Price match applies to standard retail price of identical products only and excludes temporary promotions. Please see our Terms & Conditions for full details.
** An ‘Internet-only Price’ applies only to Waitrose own-label products, and means that the price of that item is lower than the retail price of the identical item sold in Waitrose shops which provide the Waitrose Deliver service, including items on promotion (but excluding temporary, end-of-life in-store markdowns). Catchweight items, which are items that are charged per unit of weight and have their price printed on them (such as certain meats and deli items) are also excluded. We check prices daily but there could be up to a one day delay between prices being checked and them appearing on our website. Delivery charges, which range from being free to £6.49 depending on which delivery slot is selected, apply as normal. Please see Terms & Conditions at Ocado.com for full details.