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18 March 2021 ● Ocado Retail Ltd ( " Ocado " ) , a joint venture between Ocado Group plc ( " Ocado Group " ) and Marks & Spencer Group plc ( " M & S " ) , today announces its trading statement for the 13 weeks to 28 February 2021 . Highlights ● ● ● ocado® GROUP Ocado Retail Q1 Trading Statement Strong growth in Q1 ; primed to thrive in a post - COVID world Progress in orders per week reflects underlying trends in basket size M & S products consistently accounted for over 25 % of the average basket Erith Customer Fulfilment Centre ( " CFC " ) capacity serving Ocado Retail ended the period at 150,000 orders per week² Go - live of the first mini CFC in Bristol brings local customers shorter lead times for delivery and opens up 30,000 orders per week more capacity . Given strong demand , the ramp to maturity is expected to be one year or less Ocado Retail will be opening two standard sized CFCs in FY21 , in addition to its first mini CFC , while a minimum of 12 new micro sites are being sought , primarily in London , to support the roll - out of the Ocado Zoom immediacy concept which offers deliveries within one hour of ordering . A second mini CFC will open in 2022 and progress is being made securing sites for further standard sized CFCs Key financials OCADO GROUP PLC Retail Revenue grew 40 % , reflecting strong demand for online grocery and the continuation of a smoothed trading week Average order size of £ 147¹ , a result of seasonal strength over the festive period and a temporary reversal of the trend towards normalised shopping behaviour in response to further national lockdown measures in the UK Retail Revenue³ Average orders per week4 £ 599.0m 329,000 13 weeks to 28 February 2021 13 weeks to 1 March 20205 £ 428.8m 321,000 Growth 39.7 % 2.5 % Melanie Smith , Ocado Retail's Chief Executive Officer , said : " Over the past year , large numbers of UK consumers have made a permanent shift to online grocery shopping . Ocado Retail is best placed to serve these customers as we continue to improve the customer experience through the joint venture with M & S , adding new products , offering greater value , and maintaining high customer service levels . We opened one mini Customer Fulfilment Centre in Bristol last month , which gives us capacity to serve more customers and with the opening of Purfleet and re - opening of Andover , both later this year , we ultimately expect to ramp our overall capacity by 40 % with these sites . Q2 2021 represents the one year anniversary of the start of the Covid - 19 pandemic which accelerated the demand for online grocery ; while this year's quarterly sales figures will reflect the year - on - year comparisons