// As Tesco backtracks on its supplier fulfilment fee and looks to charge consumers instead, we ask if supermarkets can ever make a profit with online delivery?
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, as people shied away from mixing with large groups of people or even venturing out into public at all, online grocery trade in the UK exploded.
When lockdown first hit, in March 2020, supermarkets saw their online market share boom exponentially, taking many of them by surprise. Over the months and years since, the online delivery operations grew – ultimately becoming so popular that many shopping habits changed permanently, with millions of Brits now having their shop delivered on a regular basis.
“For many supermarkets, online delivery services are perceived as a ‘necessary evil’ – with some losing money on each delivery, due in large part to increased costs, inventory management, and price sensitivity of customers,” says chair of CIM Food, Drink and Agriculture Group, Mark Dodds.
“One way that retailers have been looking to bridge this gap is by increasing charges for home delivery – though this is a difficult line to tow…”
Read the full feature on Grocery Gazette
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