Kroger and Ocado Name Central Florida City Location of Second High-Tech Customer Fulfillment Center

GROVELAND, Fla., March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), America's largest grocery retailer, and Ocado (LSE: OCDO), one of the world's largest dedicated online grocery retailers, today announced Groveland, Lake County, Florida, as the second location for one of their Customer Fulfillment Centers (CFC).

"Kroger is incredibly excited to construct one of our industry-leading Customer Fulfillment Centers in Groveland, Florida—a city west of Orlando—through our relationship with Ocado," said Alex Tosolini, Kroger's senior vice president of new business development. "Through our strategic partnership, we are leveraging advanced robotics technology and creative solutions to redefine the customer experience across America."

Kroger has committed to building 20 CFCs, powered by Ocado, to accelerate its ability to provide customers with anything, anytime and anywhere. The CFC model – an automated warehouse facility with digital and robotic capabilities, also known as a "shed" – will be replicated to serve customers across America. Last month, the retailer announced plans to build two additional CFCs in Central Florida and Mid-Atlantic. America's first CFC will be constructed in Monroe, OH, a suburb north of Cincinnati.

"The City of Groveland welcomes Kroger and Ocado," said Mayor Evelyn Wilson. "We see it as another component to our overall community development and it demonstrates the City's commitment to foster quality jobs and provide exceptional livability." 

"Lake County, in partnership with the City of Groveland, is thrilled to welcome Kroger and Ocado to our community. This technologically advanced venture will put Lake County on the cutting edge of the e-commerce industry. Kroger will bring more than 400 high paying jobs to be fulfilled by our local and regional skilled workforce and is precisely the type of company we have been working to attract," stated Lake County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Leslie Campione.

"Enterprise Florida is thrilled Kroger and Ocado have decided to locate their new customer fulfillment center in Central Florida. We look forward to your success here in the Sunshine State," said Jamal Sowell, President & CEO of Enterprise Florida, Inc.

"Kroger thanks State of Florida, Groveland and Lake County officials for their tremendous support of this project," added Tosolini. "We're eager to transform the grocery experience for Central Florida residents through innovation and ingenuity."

The Groveland CFC will be located at U.S. Highway 27 and American Way and occupy 375,000 square feet. The CFC is scheduled to break ground later this year and be operational in 2021.

To view video and photography of a CFC, visit here.

About Elevate Lake Economic Development

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners' Office of Elevate Lake is dedicated to providing excellence in service as a liaison between companies and government, with the goal of creating a business-friendly environment and quality jobs for the citizens of Lake County.

About Kroger

At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are nearly half a million associates who serve nine million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

About Ocado

Ocado is a UK based company admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker OCDO). It comprises one of the world's largest dedicated online grocery retailers, operating its own grocery and general merchandise retail businesses under Ocado.com and other specialist shop banners, together with its Solutions division.

About Ocado Solutions

Ocado Solutions is responsible for corporate partnering, which began with its agreement to operate the online business of Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc in the UK, and more recently with agreements with Groupe Casino, Sobeys and ICA Group to develop their online businesses in France, Canada and Sweden respectively. The agreement with Kroger to provide it with the OSP suite of products to massively expand its online grocery business in the USA is Ocado Solutions' largest and most recent partnership transaction.

OSP is an enabling platform provided as a service to retailers. It comprises access to Ocado's physical infrastructure solutions to run highly efficient warehouse operations for the single pick of products, together with the entire end-to-end proprietary software applications required to operate an online grocery business - from user interfaces, through warehouse operating and control systems, to logistics, route planning and optimization. It is underpinned by Ocado's expertise and experience as a dedicated online grocery operator in the UK.

OSP provides multiple advantages to retailers wishing to operate online including:

• enables retailers to own, control and operate their own online businesses
• based on proven systems and infrastructure which Ocado uses in its own retail business
• both modular (size flexible) and scalable (can start smaller and scale up on short lead times), and supports a large range
• significant operational cost benefits
• entire seamless proprietary software provision updated alongside Ocado's own development program, providing "best in class" service for customers
• flexible agreement terms with low entry cost and ongoing fees linked to installed capacity
• Ocado does not compete with grocery retailers outside of the UK

SOURCE The Kroger Co.

Related Links

http://www.kroger.com