Ocado chairman urges retailers to embrace online grocery services

Former head of M&S and Ocado chairman, Stuart Rose, has announced online grocery services to be the only way to go if retailers are to meet growing demand from consumers, warning that lacking a substantial range of food online will ensure stores lose out to more digitally-savvy rivals.

Addressing M&S in particular, many internet grocery specialists and digital marketers are predicting an explosion in the online food market, as busy lives and a growing reliance on technology drives consumers away from the High Street.

As reported by The Drum, Rose emphasised the importance of moving to digital at the recent Internet Retailing Conference, saying: “By next year, M&S will be the only large grocer that doesn’t have [an online grocery service]. If the customer wants it, eventually they are going to have to provide it.”

Tesco and Asda have already jumped aboard the digital trend, offering an extensive range of food with their own delivery services, but M&S is trailing behind, currently only operating a limited in-store collection of party food and ‘unusual’ cuts of fish and meat.

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