Tesco to Create 16,000 Jobs to Strengthen E-Commerce, Expects Rise in Online Sales

By Matteo Castia

Tesco PLC said Monday that it will create 16,000 new permanent roles to support its expanding online business, and that it expects higher internet-based sales for the year.

The U.K.'s largest grocer by market share said 10,000 of these positions will be pickers to assemble customer orders. Another 3,000 will be drivers to strengthen deliveries, while the remaining 3,000 will be for a variety of vacancies in stores and distribution centers, it said.

"The majority of these roles to be filled by colleagues who joined on a temporary basis at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic," Tesco said. It said staff for the remaining posts will be recruited externally.

E-commerce now accounts for 16% of the group's sales compared with around 9% before the pandemic, Tesco said.

The company expects this year's online sales to exceed 5.5 billion pounds ($7.2 billion), up from GBP3.3 billion the year before.

Recruitment across other Tesco business areas continues as normal, the company said.

Shares at 1220 GMT were up 0.7 pence, or 0.3%, at 228.2 pence.

Write to Matteo Castia at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 24, 2020 08:37 ET (12:37 GMT)

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