Marks & Spencer risks falling behind its big food rivals if it fails to develop a plan for online delivery, former chief executive Sir Stuart Rose has said.
Rose, who has been chairman of Ocado since January, told journalists at the sidelines of the Internet Retailing Conference in London yesterday that the retailer may have to bow to customer demand.
'If the customer wants it, eventually they are going to have to provide it. By next year M&S will be the only large scale grocer that doesn't have it [an online delivery service],' he said.
Online delivery firm Ocado will begin a trial with Morrisons as soon as next month with the full launch of the supermarket's online service planned for January.
Marks & Spencer, whose food business is worth over £4 billion a year, will be the only one among Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Waitrose that does not have such a service. The Co-operative group has said it plans to begin testing a service this year and even the Iceland chain has online delivery offer.
At present the retailer only has a limited 'Food to Order' party food delivery service including sandwiches, quiches and cakes. The retailer is understood to have previously considered food delivery - including a possible tie-up with Ocado - but the plans were not pursued.
On Tuesday, Marks & Spencer plans to update the City on its food strategy amid fears that its Autumn clothing sales have failed to perform as well as expected. It has previously argued that a delivery service would not work as well as those launched by supermarkets because its customers rarely carry out a full weekly shop at its stores.
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