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Kroger places order with Ocado for autonomous warehouse tech

Ocado Kroger
Image credit: Ocado

Ocado Group has announced an expansion of its partnership with US retail giant Kroger, which placed an order for the firm’s Re:imagined technologies to power fulfilment centres.

The London-listed grocery firm has been committed to investing in its tech capabilities, notably its robotically operated automated customer fulfilment centres (CFCs).

Ocado has now secured a significant order of its robotic tech from Kroger, which first partnered with Ocado in 2018. It comes after Kroger paused new Ocado-powered fulfilment centres in September last year to review the progress of existing facilities.

The new deal will see Kroger implement tech from Ocado’s Re:imagined line into its own CFCs. This includes Ocado’s On-Grid Robotic Pick and Automated Frameload.

“Today marks another exciting milestone in our partnership with Kroger. Our current CFCs are already helping to deliver a game-changing quality of service to their customers across the USA,” said Ocado CEO Tim Steiner.

“We are excited for these latest technologies to further enhance that proposition, as well as the efficiency of Kroger’s operations in live and future CFCs.”

Earlier this month, Ocado revealed plans to build a third Japanese robotic warehouse as part of its expanded deal with Aeon.

“We are delivering a step-change in warehouse automation and new levels of efficiency to our partners as global supply chains are under significant pressure to manage higher volumes and greater complexity, as well as challenges in labour cost and availability,” Steiner added.

Ocado’s commitment to its tech investments has not always been fruitful, with several scrapped deals last year, including from Marks & Spencer.

Recent financial results published by the firm, however, have shown the tech side of its business has grown more than any of its other revenue streams.

Its 2024 half-year report, published last week, revealed total losses had dropped by almost 50%, while tech revenue had grown by 21.8%.

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