Ocado’s new Luton CFC has been hit by technical issues over the weekend, resulting in products showing up as out of stock on its website.
Analysis of Assosia data by The Grocer shows the number of out-of-stock items on the Ocado.com website shot up by more than 100 products on Monday versus the previous week. Some suppliers reported around half of their listed range were affected.
The Luton distribution centre launched five weeks ago, and serves as a replacement for Ocado’s oldest fulfilment centre in Hatfield, which shuttered over the summer.
An Ocado Retail spokeswoman said the new site was “already fulfilling as many customer orders as some of our most mature sites”.
“As with any rapidly growing new site, there have been some small hurdles to overcome, such as a temporary and specific stock issue at the weekend,” she added.
The new Luton site, which is becomign fully operational at the “fastest-ever” rate, Ocado said, takes Ocado Retail’s total capacity from 400,000 to 525,000 orders per week.
The decision to close Ocado’s Hatfield CFC – which handled around a fifth of Ocado Retails order volume – was due to it being usurped in terms of innovation and productivity by other sites, Ocado said at the time.
While Hatfield has a ‘units picked per labour hour’ of around 150, newer sites were “consistently achieving well over 200”. Ocado called the Hatfield site “a foundation stone in the Ocado story”.
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