COVID-19 causes Ocado temporary shutdown

Thursday January 1 1970

Online grocer Ocado has temporarily closed their website as they look to meet demand during the coronavirus pandemic

It will be closed till Saturday to allow them to complete essential work to distribute delivery slots.

Ocado CEO Melanie Smith said: ‘Like all supermarkets, we are working round the clock to keep up with high demand and make sure all of our customers get what they need at this time – especially those more vulnerable and in isolation.

'As a result, we have made a decision to temporarily close access to Ocado.com so you will not be able to edit an existing order or book a new delivery for the next few days.

Loyal customers

Smith explained that the temporary closure will allow Ocado to complete essential work that will help to make sure distribution of products and delivery slots is as fair and accessible as possible for all our loyal customers.

Speaking today, Thomas Brereton, retail analyst at GlobalData, added: “Ocado is not alone in facing these issues; at the time of publication, the transactional websites of rivals Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are also down. And while ASDA, Tesco and Morrisons are still persevering with online orders, the earliest available delivery slot (to central London) for all three is the end of the first week of April.”

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