Tesco has mapped out a plan for a countrywide network of internet delivery warehouses as it seeks to capitalise on double digit growth of its dotcom food service.
UK chief executive Chris Bush said he has drawn up a plan to identify the areas between now and 2020 where demand will outstrip the ability of stores to 'pick' and delivery internet grocery orders.
Tesco fulfils the majority of its internet delivery orders by employing staff to collect the order in store, as a shopper would. But, as demand increases, stores find it increasingly difficult to cope.
Tesco has already built six internet food delivery warehouses - so-called 'dark stores' because they are not open to the public - in a 'dotcom ring' around London.
'We have mapped out the whole country,' Bush told The Mail on Sunday. He said London had been the specific focus to date because of the dense population and the lack of big stores:
'We haven't got many big store around London so it is a good way of attacking that.'
The newspaper said cities such as Glasgow and Manchester could be among the first to be targeted for dotcom warehouses as well as areas where rivals such as Asda and Morrisons dominate such as West Yorkshire.
Tesco plans to open smaller stores in future as it sells more of its non-food ranges online. It has about 100,000 non-food lines and around 500,000 when its 'marketplace' partners - such as Maplin Electronics - are included.
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