Supermarket giant Tesco is to create 550 jobs at a new dotcom store.

The warehouse, now under construction at Quarry Wood Industrial Estate, Aylesford, will be only the second of its kind in the UK. The first is already up and running in Croydon.

The news has been welcomed at a time when the retail sector is facing tough times in a serious economic downturn.

Although the new multi-million pound outlet will look like a normal Tesco supermarket, it will be shut to personal customers.

The dot-com store will stock a full range of items ordered by online customers for direct delivery to their home.

Tesco claims that a centralised operation improves efficiency and avoids inconvenience to traditional shoppers in existing stores.

Around 300 people working on the existing online operation in five local stores will be affected. Tesco says that all these staff have been told about the move and will be offered work in the new store. It said that redundancies were "very unlikely."