Kroger and Ocado to build first robotic warehouse in Cincinnati

FAN Editor
The Kroger supermarket chain's headquarters is shown in Cincinnati
The Kroger supermarket chain’s headquarters is shown in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., June 28, 2018. Picture taken June 28, 2018. REUTERS/Lisa Baertlein

November 19, 2018

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Kroger Co has chosen its hometown of Cincinnati for the first of 20 high-tech warehouses it plans to build with online grocer Ocado Group Plc in a bid to dominate the U.S. grocery delivery business.

Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket operator, is battling Walmart Inc and Amazon.com Inc in the small, but fast-growing online segment that accounts for anywhere from 1 percent to 4 percent of the $800 billion U.S. grocery market. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2LYQUUV)

In May, Kroger paid roughly $248 million for a minority stake in Ocado, the world’s No. 1 online grocer.

Kroger will spend $55 million on the first project under that deal – a 335,000-square-foot facility in Monroe, Ohio, a suburb north of Cincinnati.

UK-based Ocado’s “sheds” house hives of robots that pick and pack groceries. The company’s newest machines can pull together a 50-item grocery order in as little as five minutes – potentially slashing Kroger’s labor costs at a time when U.S. grocers are looking for ways to profitably delivery milk, eggs and other necessities to customer doorsteps.

Kroger said the project, which is expected to create 410 jobs, is subject to securing state and local incentives.

Amazon was the top online grocery seller before its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market last summer that spurred rival grocery sellers to invest in cost-saving automation.

Kroger, Walmart and Ahold Delhaize each have partnered with technology companies that build automated order fulfillment warehouses.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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