The majority of large retailers now provide a home delivery or click and collect service to cater for changing shopping patterns. While this may reduce footfall in bricks and mortar outlets it has, at the same time, led to a greater need for warehouse space to cope with the growing demand.
For this reason Waitrose has made the decision to open its first ever national distribution centre in Milton Keynes. The large-scale centre will be the size of 12 Premiership football pitches and developer Gazeley aims to complete the project to allow Waitrose to move in by the summer of 2015.
At present, Waitrose operates a similar service at the nearby Celestia depot however this is run by logistics company Kuehne + Nagel. By bringing the national distribution centre under the control of Waitrose itself, it is hoped that it will cut costs and improve efficiency.
Supply chain director at Waitrose, David Jones, believes that the large commercial property will prove instrumental in helping with the supermarket chain’s ongoing growth programme.
He says; “The decision to open our first national distribution centre marks a pivotal moment in our supply chain history and reflects our phenomenal growth.
“Waitrose has outperformed the market for five years and we have ambitious plans to open 38 shops in 2014 and continue to expand our online platform.
“By simplifying our supply chain, we improve its resilience and greatly improve our ability to serve our branches now and in the future.”
The size of the centre may seem staggering, but is entirely necessary as it will handle the distribution of more than 25,000 grocery and home department lines throughout the country. Furthermore, it will be responsible for ensuring stock remains plentiful at Waitrose’s four regional distribution centres, all of which are expected to remain open despite today’s news.
Waitrose managed to post relatively strong profits throughout the recession – something which even less costly chains such as Tesco and Asda struggled to do on occasion. This success has reached even greater heights as the recovery has gained momentum, and the supermarket’s board of directors recently revealed that Waitrose’s market share has reached an all-time high of 5 per cent.
With mounting pressure from rival brands engaging in promotional battles, it would be easy to doubt that Waitrose will be able to maintain its market share. However, with store expansion and online improvements in the pipeline, the national distribution centre could prove to be the key to even stronger results next year.
