Fortnum & Mason to double warehouse space after orders struggle

FORTNUM & MASON is to double the amount of warehouse space it uses after a spike in orders over Christmas left the retailer “stretched to the limit”, its chief executive has said.

Tom Athron said a surge in orders over the festive period put “real pressure on our infrastructure”. It comes after reports that customers were being charged multiple times for transactions and left waiting to get through to its customer service for long periods.

Fortnum denied it was having issues with its website at the time and Mr Athron said yesterday: “It wasn’t so much about ordering hampers or technical problems. At that incredibly busy time, the spike that we see at Christmas is really quite substantially bigger than probably any other retailer.”

Fortnum said yesterday that sales rose 17pc over the five weeks to Dec 24 compared with last Christmas, with over 400,000 orders processed and sent to countries as far away as New Zealand and Bermuda.

The royal grocer sold more than 700,000 packs of biscuits and said it had seen strong demand for its ownbrand gin, breakfast boxes and staples such as sausage rolls and Scotch eggs.

The upmarket supermarket, which holds warrants to supply the Royal household, sells a wide variety of hampers containing food and drink products and cutlery.

Mr Athron added: “I think it’s fair to say that [Christmas] stretched our infrastructure to our limit. We’re making some quite significant investments in our fulfillment infrastructure this year, which I think will solve that problem.”

The 317-year-old grocer is relocating its online operations to a large warehouse in Corby, Northants, which will double its warehouse space in the UK.

Mr Athron said the reorganisation would “dramatically improve the customer experience”. A handful of smaller warehouses around the country will be closed in the process and around 94 jobs have been put under consultation at one site in Ely, Cambs, as a result of the relocation.

Annual sales rose 12pc to £209m over the year to July 2023, Fortnum & Mason said yesterday, while pre-tax profits rose 23pc to £7.5m.