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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Owen Hughes

Iceland has created 3,000 jobs as demand for online groceries surges

Iceland has created 3,000 new jobs to cope with the huge extra demand for online groceries since the lockdown in March.

Bosses at the Deeside based retailer revealed online orders surged by more than 300% since April as shoppers rushed to book delivery slots and all non-essential retailers shut their doors.

The new jobs include extra delivery drivers and more staff in stores for picking online orders, Iceland added.

Before lockdown the grocer had a minor online operation, compared with some of its competitors.

But since then orders soared four-fold.

Ramping up changes, Iceland revealed it now has the ability to handle 750,000 orders every week.

Iceland added its delivery fleet is increasing by 30% and a trial in Hackney, North London, with UberEats will allow customers to place and receive orders in 20 minutes.

David Devany, chief customer and digital officer at Iceland, said: "We've been blown away by the demand for deliveries over the past six months with a four-fold increase in online orders since the beginning of lockdown.

"We see no sign of a slowdown in the demand for deliveries in the run up to Christmas, so a recruitment drive for more permanent staff was essential.

"Our store and delivery colleagues have gone above and beyond during lockdown introducing incredible measures to help their local communities, and I'm proud that our business has been able to adapt to the changing needs of our customer."

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