Marks & Spencer customers can get their food shop delivered with Ocado from today

A fleet of limited edition Percy Pig delivery vans have also been unveiled to mark the occasion
A fleet of limited edition Percy Pig delivery vans have been unveiled
PA
Imogen Braddick1 September 2020

Marks & Spencer has made its full food range available to order online after partnering with Ocado.

Waitrose was dealt a major headache last February when Ocado said it would launch a new £1.5 billion delivery partnership with M&S and bring its 20-year relationship with the supermarket chain to a close next month.

From Tuesday, M&S products will be exclusively available to order with Ocado.

Until now, M&S had only offered party food and celebrating dinners online, and a limited range of household items through Deliveroo.

Shoppers can now choose from 6,000 M&S food items, alongside 800 clothing and home products.

If the Percy Pig vans are spotted, people can enter the #PercyPic competition on social media
PA

A fleet of limited edition Percy Pig delivery vans have also been unveiled to mark the occasion.

"This marks the culmination of over a year of hard work by everyone involved and I am so proud of everyone at Ocado Retail and our friends at M&S for such a collaborative partnership," Melanie Smith, CEO of Ocado Retail, said.

"We are excited to be bringing the greatest range of products to loyal and new customers across the UK with the winning combination of the country’s fastest growing grocer and the nation’s most beloved food brand.

"We know this is the start of something special and as shoppers continue to move online at pace, we look forward to what the future holds."

With more than 750 new products added to its existing range, M&S food enhances Ocado Retail’s range of more than 50,000 products.

Shoppers can buy the full M&S food range from Ocado
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Stuart Machin, managing director of M&S Food, added: "This is a long-term partnership and in preparation for go-live we have listened intently to customers to deliver an even bigger, better range - with more family pack sizes, more scratch cooking ingredients, household staples and organic options.

"As more families shop for M&S products online, they will see the breadth that M&S food has to offer and we’re confident they will find we remain serious on quality whilst also being serious about value."

Meanwhile, the boss of Waitrose has said the upmarket grocer sees its split from delivery partner Ocado as a "big opportunity" as it looks to tempt customers on to its own platform.

Executive director James Bailey said it has enabled the company to shake up its "potentially undervalued" online operations during a period of rapidly growing demand for grocery deliveries.

"I genuinely see this as a big opportunity,” Mr Bailey said. "It provides an important time for change, and maybe there have been some old-fashioned habits which we can shift with this renewed focus.

"There has been a little history of underplaying online and I feel like this year has changed everything.

"Covid has come at a positive time for the Waitrose business in terms of this shift towards online."

Waitrose has said it is eyeing new partnerships with third-party delivery operators, with it launching a trial with Deliveroo from five stores on Tuesday.

The supermarket chain’s parent, the John Lewis Partnership, has said it will place greater focus on online growth as it pushes forward with a strategic review.