Ocado shares up after sales growth

michaels

They want to give me £20 quid if I can spend £80 with them by nidnight - problem is finding £80 quid of stuff that isn't at least 25% overpriced in the first place. I only ever use them when they give me 25% off - are retail margins that good?

claire16c

michaels wrote: »

They want to give me £20 quid if I can spend £80 with them by nidnight - problem is finding £80 quid of stuff that isn't at least 25% overpriced in the first place. I only ever use them when they give me 25% off - are retail margins that good?

Not on food nope, theyre notoriously low. But clothing etc is.

I think I read somewhere the other day that John Lewis sales were up, but profits will be down because the margins are worse.

michaels

Well allegedly my order of 59 odd quid with free delivery would have cost me £132 had I paid 'full' price for everything and not got 25% off...

IronWolf

michaels wrote: »

They want to give me £20 quid if I can spend £80 with them by nidnight - problem is finding £80 quid of stuff that isn't at least 25% overpriced in the first place. I only ever use them when they give me 25% off - are retail margins that good?

Retail margins are usually very thin due to the fierce competition. Sometimes sale items will be sold at a loss due to rebalancing stock, but other times they are almost continuously "on sale" to entice shoppers.

I shop at Sainsburies myself (only one within walking distance) and have received a lot of great vouchers from Nectar, I have had around £300 last year of money off, not including the points I've collected, just vouchers they send. The best one was £20 off a £50 shop, I got 4 of them

The problem with that though is its not well advertised, I didn't even know Id get vouchers until I got them. So it hurts their margins but doesn't really win them customer base.

Kennyboy66

michaels wrote: »

They want to give me £20 quid if I can spend £80 with them by nidnight - problem is finding £80 quid of stuff that isn't at least 25% overpriced in the first place. I only ever use them when they give me 25% off - are retail margins that good?

retail margins are rubbish on basics like milk, butter, old fashioned tinned groceries but they are much healthier on fancier ready meals and little jars of feta cheese in extra virgin olive oil, and tusacn balsamic vinegar etc - just the stuff that Waitrose likes you to buy.

It is baffling that Ocado was ever valued so high and the trustees of the John Lewis Pension fund (or their advisors) played a blinder selling their stake at such a high price.

They are basically a middle man, with 1 warehouse and a fleet of vans and a bit of apparently decent software.

1/4 of the comapnies value is made up of historic tax losses which someone else could use if they acquired them.

Impossible to see an independent future for them.

michaels

Oh dear - not a lot of profit for them on my order then as I can't justify spending money on that fany carp even when it is allegedly 25% it is still too expensive...

Morrisons don't currently have an online capability, could there be a deal to be done?

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

retail margins are rubbish on basics like milk, butter, old fashioned tinned groceries but they are much healthier on fancier ready meals and little jars of feta cheese in extra virgin olive oil, and tusacn balsamic vinegar etc - just the stuff that Waitrose likes you to buy.

It is baffling that Ocado was ever valued so high and the trustees of the John Lewis Pension fund (or their advisors) played a blinder selling their stake at such a high price.

They are basically a middle man, with 1 warehouse and a fleet of vans and a bit of apparently decent software.

1/4 of the comapnies value is made up of historic tax losses which someone else could use if they acquired them.

Impossible to see an independent future for them.

Kennyboy66

michaels wrote: »

Oh dear - not a lot of profit for them on my order then as I can't justify spending money on that fany carp even when it is allegedly 25% it is still too expensive...

Morrisons don't currently have an online capability, could there be a deal to be done?

I reckon thats the most likely outcome - although they have to pay Waitrose 10% of the deal price if they are taken over.

IronWolf

I'm not that sure online shopping will take off really. Anything fresh, I want to choose myself, dont want the manky carrots or mushrooms. Especially meat, I want to choose the nicest looking pieces.

For anything not fresh, you can buy in mass anyway cutting your weekly shopping needs.

Kennyboy66

IronWolf wrote: »

I'm not that sure online shopping will take off really. Anything fresh, I want to choose myself, dont want the manky carrots or mushrooms. Especially meat, I want to choose the nicest looking pieces.

For anything not fresh, you can buy in mass anyway cutting your weekly shopping needs.

Oh I think it will grow and grow - the fantastic convenience of being able to do a large shop from your phone is amazing.

However I normally buy meat from the butchers - just wish they would open until say 6:30pm. Ditto fruit and veg - which in my greengrocer is fresher and cheaper than the supermarkets bar the odd item like bananas of pineapples.