Waitrose managing director Mark Price appears to have taken a breather in his war of words with online partner Ocado.
After setting his lawyers on a contract the online grocery delivery firm signed with Morrisons last month, he seems to have cooled off a little. He told the Sunday Telegraph: 'My hope is very much that we will see that contract through.'
Quite whether this sounds like something you would say through gritted teeth, we are not sure. Waitrose's contract supplying Ocado to deliver its groceries runs to 2020 but with a break clause in 2017. What we do know is that Waitrose is closing in on a number of online delivery warehouses in a bid to grow its in-house delivery service Waitrose.com. Whether, or how soon, this can take over from the Ocado agreement we do not know (although we suspect Mark Price does).
The supermarket appears to feel that Ocado has transgressed some part of the contract or else the spirit of the deal. It could also be that it feels uncomfortable that Ocado has somehow got its hands dirty dealing with what some of its customers might deem a lesser quality supermarket.
We understand that the Waitrose legal team still has some weeks before it comes to any conclusions. But with Ocado due to release first-half figures next week on July 2 we have no doubt there will be more to say before then.
Meanwhile, rumours persist over intellectual property deals, takeovers, partnerships between Ocado and the likes of Amazon, Marks & Spencer, Boots the Chemist, Carrefour - all depending on which day of the week it is.
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