Yahoo Finance Waitrose shoppers face shortages for another weekend as impact of IT glitch drags on
Waitrose customers are facing another weekend of shortages on shelves after a bungled IT upgrade last weekend.
The supermarket admitted on Friday that some branches were still yet to reach normal stock levels almost a week after problems first emerged.
Shoppers first complained of a lack of stock over the bank holiday weekend. The issue was a result of IT problems that left the business unable to service swathes of its stores properly.
Waitrose said that while it had fixed the problem that caused widespread disruption last weekend, some stores were still yet to reach normal stock levels.
Consumers were still taking to social media to complain of empty shelves in its stores on Thursday and Friday.
A Waitrose spokesman said: “We’re really sorry for the disruption that some customers faced. We’ve fixed the cause of the problem, and have regular daily deliveries going to all our branches.”
“Many shops now have good availability, and we’re addressing localised issues as quickly as possible.”
IT issues left Waitrose struggling to order stock at typical volumes from many of its suppliers, it is understood.
A source at one supplier said: “We were getting tiny orders, like ridiculously small.”
The source claimed that lorries were being checked manually, rather than using automated scanning systems as is normal, which left them facing 10 hour delays.
“It was mayhem,” they said.
The disruption is understood to have primarily affected deliveries of fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables and meats, but suppliers of packaged goods say they were affected too.
The boss of one fresh food company said: “It’s across grocery, it’s across fresh, everything. And we’re told that it was an upgrade, and somebody pressed the wrong button.”
The high volume of sales at supermarkets means even a small delay can have a huge impact on its ability to service stores.
Problems last weekend were compounded by hot weather, which meant more people were out and about visiting its shops.
Shoppers had to contend with empty shelves across supermarkets earlier this year when the UK was hit by a shortage of fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers and leeks.
