Online food company Ocado is planning to increase IT investment by 77 per cent over the coming year.

The company described that people and hardware would be the main focus points for future investment.

The companies result statements detailed that it would seek to increase its team of IT staff by 50 per cent, moving from around 350 to more than 520 staff.

Ocado invested £14.1 million in 2013 on IT services, however the company has yet to see a return from the investment, reporting a pre-tax loss of £12.5 million.

The company has stacked future expectations for growth on predictions for a shift to online grocery shopping, driven by supermarkets and consumers.

The company said: “The primary focus will be on re-platforming of our IT systems to enable the faster replication and rollout for international expansion, the rapid improvement of customer interfaces and other projects to drive efficiency in both our operations and central teams.”

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