Following today’s release of Ocado’s figures for the six months ending 31 May 2026; Dora Punk, retail analyst at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers her view: “Ocado’s H1 results highlight a widening gap within the Group with the retail division continuing to outperform the UK online food & grocery market, but investor focus remains on whether its technology platform can deliver profitable growth. The 20% share price crash this morning – to a 13-year low – reflects growing skepticism around execution, adoption and profitability.
“Ocado Retail delivered a strong first-half performance with revenue increasing 15.1% to £1.76bn, driven by 12.8% growth in weekly orders to 554,000 while the average customer base rose 10.6% to 1.28 million. The strength of the performance is that growth has been driven by higher customer engagement and order frequency rather than price inflation, suggesting Ocado’s proposition continues to resonate with shoppers. However, as the online grocery market matures, the focus will shift from customer acquisition towards improving customer lifetime value and the profitability of each order.
“The quality of growth also remains important, average basket value increased 1.9% to £126.55 supported by a 2.1% increase in average selling prices, but this remained below UK grocery inflation of 3.9%. This indicates that revenue growth has been driven more by increased demand rather than inflationary pricing, which is positive for customer engagement but also highlights the continued pressure to remain competitive on value.
“Despite the strength of the Retail business, the broader investment narrative remains more complex. Investors continue to focus on Ocado Group’s technology division, where slower international expansion, reduced online grocery investment and setbacks with partners including Kroger and Sobeys have weakened sentiment around long-term growth. The Group’s £150 million cost reduction programme, incorporating around 1,000 job reductions and greater use of AI and automation, will be closely monitored as investors seek evidence of sustainable improvements. The recently announced partnership with ASDA for 2027 provides some reassurance, but further successful commercial partnerships will be needed to rebuild confidence.
“Ocado Retail’s ongoing transformation also highlights the complexity of becoming a fully independent digital retailer. The IT Roadmap programme including the transition from Ocado Group systems to Ocado Smart Platform, alongside the finance transformation including Oracle Fusion, represents a significant investment to build systems required for future growth. The announcement that Tim Steiner will remain CEO through the start of 2028 financial year, while taking a more strategic role over time will also mark an important transition for the Group. The next phase will require stronger execution, with investors looking for evidence that Ocado can convert its technology capability into measurable operational benefits and stronger returns over time.”
