Ocado Retail is boosting capacity and cutting delivery times with its latest customer fulfilment centres with its first mini site opening earlier this month, two standard sites opening later this year and 12 micro sites being sought.
Ocado Retail’s first mini CFC, which is a quarter of the size of the Erith CFC, went live earlier this month in Avonmouth, Bristol. The new 150,000 sq ft facility has the capacity for over 30,000 orders per week and will support around 815 jobs at peak capacity.
Two standard sized CFCs are due to open in Purfleet and Andover in the fourth quarter. Once all three new sites are fully ramped up Ocado Retail will have increased capacity by 40%.
An additional mini-CFC is planned for go-live in the first half of next year in Bicester. The company will also open its first CFC with its US partner Kroger in the coming weeks.
Ocado Retail is also on the hunt for 12 new micro sites, primarily in London, which will be used to support the roll-out of the Ocado Zoom immediacy concept which offers deliveries within one hour of ordering.
Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group and chairman of Ocado Retail, said that the new CFCs would help deal with the increase in online grocery demand. “Over the last twelve months, there has been a dramatic and permanent shift towards online grocery shopping around the world,” he said. “Millions of customers have experienced online grocery shopping through the pandemic and many of them will not be going back to bricks and mortar. As we progress towards a new normal for grocery retail, and the focus for the industry shifts from meeting unprecedented demand to winning in a large and growing online channel, the need for a fulfilment solution that both delights a more knowledgeable customer, and enables profitable, sustainable growth, has never been more critical.”
