Waitrose has opened a new customer fulfilment centre – or ‘dark store’ – in Greenford, west London to cater for growing online grocery demand.
When fully operational, the centre will delivery 25,000 waitrose.com orders, with staff picking 1.25 million products a week to be delivered in 150 new vans.
The centre is the first to be opened and operated with supply-chain partner Wincanton, and the third Waitrose customer fulfilment centre alongside existing sites in Coulsdon and Enfield.
James Wroath, Wincanton CEO, said: “We look forward to providing Waitrose.com customers in London with the highest levels of service.
“Dark stores will play a huge role in helping supply chains adapt to meet a new set of expectations as more retail purchases are made online and they will better enable businesses to serve customers, at scale.”
Laura Burbedge, Waitrose.com director, added: “Waitrose.com now accounts for a fifth of our total business, compared to six percent a year ago. But despite this huge growth we know there are still more people who would like to shop online with us – so this new centre is a significant step in our future plans.”
Furthermore, the new centre will collaborate with charity FareShare to ensure surplus food is put to good use.
