Ocado Group has signed service and operational terms on its deal with Kroger, the US food retailer it announced it was to work with in May.
The partnership will see Kroger order 20 customer fulfilment centres (CFC) in the first three years of the partnership. The CFCs will be developed and operated by Ocado. The first three will be ordered by the end of this year and are scheduled to go live around two years after ordering.
Ocado will install and maintain modules of Mechanical Handling Equipment (“MHE”) sufficient to provide an agreed level of throughput for the retailer. The location of the first three CFCs will be released by Kroger in the coming weeks,
Luke Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions, said: “We are delighted to have signed this services agreement with Kroger which sets out the key parameters for our working relationship going forward. The Kroger and Ocado teams have been working hard for some time to prepare for the opening of the first CFCs in the United States. We are very excited at the prospect of helping Kroger bring new services and value to its customers and transform the food retail market in the US”.
Alex Tosolini, Kroger’s senior vice president of business development, said: “This is a significant step toward both solidifying our partnership with Ocado and redefining the Kroger customer experience.”
Image credit: Ocado
