Ocado sales slip as customers order less amid rising living costs

Ocado sales have slipped as customers are ordering less amid rising living costs. 

Sales slumped at the online retail firm because shoppers are shrinking the size of their orders in response to the rising cost of living and the end of Covid curbs. 

Hit hard: Ocado sales have slipped as customers are ordering less amid rising living costs

The company also saw losses balloon to £211m, from £27.9m a year earlier, as the group pumped more money into the expansion of its technology operations. 

Group revenues fell by 4.4 per cent to £1.26billion over the six months to May 29, compared with the same period last year. Growth in its UK and international solutions divisions was more than offset by tumbling sales at Ocado Retail, the group’s joint venture with Marks & Spencer. 

Retail sales fell by 8.3 per cent to £1.12billion during the half-year. Bosses said they have seen customers switch to cheaper products and change their shopping behaviour in recent months amid price increases. 

Chief financial officer Stephen Daintith said Ocado has seen price inflation of ‘between 3 per cent and 4 per cent’, although this remains below the 9.8 per cent rise in food and drink prices reported this week by the Office for National Statistics.