Dark store

Professor Annabelle Gawer, director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey, pointed out that the industry being disrupted is not food supply, but local delivery.

However, without having to deal with retail customers, the stores are not located in the high street or shopping centres, but mostly in areas that are preferred for good road connections.

[5] The first UK supermarket to trial the concept of a specific store for online goods was Sainsbury's, which operated a distribution centre at Park Royal in London during the early 2000s, but the retailer closed the outlet because of a low order quantity.

[10] The term 'dark store' first appeared in the UK in 2009[citation needed] when Tesco opened their first such supermarkets in Croydon, Surrey, and Aylesford, Kent.

[11] Supermarkets began opening dark stores to assist with distribution in geographical areas where there was a high demand for online delivery.

[4][17] In November 2012, Zoe Wood of The Guardian reported that a number of dark stores had been opened by major supermarket chains in the UK, including Tesco and Waitrose, with more planned.

[7] In 2021, a report produced by OneStock indicated that more than 67% of consumers across Europe had used the dark store format during the COVID-19 pandemic, either to click and collect goods or through online delivery.

In September 2021, Internet Retailing magazine reported that 84% of UK consumers had purchased from a dark store since the pandemic, with that figure rising to 91% in the 25–44 age group.