Logistics services from Ocado and Groupe Casino are now being offered to all grocery retailers in France, as the two report today that they have finalised their joint venture.
The new venture will offer warehouse and delivery services using customer fulfilment centres that are powered by the Ocado Smart Platform and open to all in the market. The two believe there is growing demand for online grocery services in France and that the joint venture represents a “huge opportunity” for their combined expertise. The two already work together in the Ile de France region and say their operations there have set a high bar for French shoppers’ expectations of the internet grocery experience.
At the same time, Groupe Casino will use Ocado’s in-store fulfilment solution in all of its Monoprix stores. And Ocado will integrate Octopia, the Cdiscount marketplace platform, into the Ocado Smart Platform, enabling it to offer new marketplace services to its partners around the world.
Luke Jensen, chief executive of Ocado Solutions, says: “This is a great milestone for our relationship with Groupe Casino as we extend the partnership in a number of exciting directions.
“Our partnership demonstrates what can be achieved when a major retailer introduces a world-class quality of service online, enabled by unique efficiencies, to French consumers. I’m excited that Ocado Group’s cutting-edge technologies are now available to all grocery retailers in France, with the new joint venture leveraging our combined expertise to provide key logistics services for future CFCs.”
Ocado is a Top500 retailer in RXUK Top500 research for its UK grocery retail business, which now operates in partnership with Marks & Spencer. In recent years, however, a key part of the wider group strategy has been to grow by supplying its technology and robotic logistics solutions to third-party retail partners around the world, who range from Groupe Casino in France, to Kroger in the US, Sobeys in Canada, Aeon in Japan and Coles in Australia.
