Booker does not intend to increase delivery fees for its retailers amid ongoing cost pressures, but has not ruled out the possibility of future rises. Two years ago, the company introduced a fee of nearly £30 per delivery for customers, citing rising cost pres­sures as the cause.

When asked by Better Retailing whether this would change during a call about Tesco and Booker’s Q3 2023 trading results, Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said: “We don’t anticipate any changes to delivery fees this year. At least, not at this stage.”

While Booker has not raised the fee since its introduction, rival symbol groups and wholesalers have implemented in­creases and new costs for retailers themselves.

The results also refer­enced a 119,000sq ft distri­bution centre opened by Booker in 2023 “as part of ongoing network redevel­opment”. When asked about how this development had ben­efited retailers, Murphy said the new distribution centre was built to enable more capacity to support “Booker’s phenomenal growth” in retail and in its catering business. The Fareham site boasts an extra 220,000 cases’ worth of delivery capacity for retailers across south-east England.

“The only constraint on its growth has been ca­pacity,” Murphy said. “The opening of the Fareham site gives us that extra capacity in a critical part of the country.”

The trading statement also praised a successful Christmas period, which Murphy attributed to a “relentless” focus on value. He praised Booker retailers as “very savvy” and “in­credibly good retailers”.

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In the 19 weeks up to 6 January 2024, retail like-for-like sales at Booker grew by 9.4%, supported by various seasonal pro­motional campaigns. Total sales in the pe­riod were £3.2bn, a 2.9% increase on the previous year. The period also saw an increase of 158 retail­ers joining the Booker network.

Murphy said: “I visit our Premier and Londis fascia stores on a regular basis to learn what’s hot and new in the market, because our independent retailers are really quick out of the block in terms of adopting new trends.”

Asked what support Booker was offering these retailers, Murphy did not suggest any new services that might become available, but highlighted the “classic category management tools” available to them.

He added: “I see an op­portunity though progres­sively doing more with them and helping them grow their businesses more, but they are pretty good in their own right.”

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