E&T: Could you start by telling us how and when the idea for this solution was conceived
James Gralton (pictured below): Our founders always had the ambition to do online grocery differently and to use cutting-edge technology and automation through centralised fulfilment to deliver an amazing service to our customers. The tech that was available at the time wasn’t really appropriate; it was really designed for smal-basket shopping. We quite quickly realised that we were going to need to build it ourselves, and over the past 20 years or so we’ve continued to do that. Now we build and license that technology out to partners around the globe.
E&T: Did you have set objectives? What was your starting point and what did you hope to achieve?
JG: The guiding principle, obviously, was to offer an amazing service to our customers, to offer them the freshest food, the greatest choice and convenience. Convenience being the biggest difference – being able...