Ocado Group has announced that mutual exclusivity with retailers in most of its markets where its technology is live has ended.
This includes US-based retail and department store chain Kroger as well as grocery retailer Coles in Australia.
The move will enable Ocado to offer its solutions to retailers in some of the world’s largest grocery markets, with the company expecting to commence new commercial activity in multiple geographies.
When the company announced its half year 2025 results in July last year, it said it expected to roll off exclusivity arrangements by the end of the year in the majority of markets.
Ocado’s solutions include store-based automation, AI-powered manual fulfilment and automated customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) in a range of sizes.
“As we continue to support all of our partners to improve and grow their online businesses, we will also now bring the full range of Ocado’s AI-powered and robotic solutions back to multiple markets,” said Ocado Group chief executive Tim Steiner. “In the five years since our first international CFCs went live we have substantially evolved our market-leading solutions and broadened our offering to meet retailers wherever they are on their online journey.”
Ocado said it will continue to work closely with its grocery retail partners across the world and build on the progress it has made with partners.
The move comes after Ocado shares dropped by 17 per cent in November last year when US supermarket Kroger announced plans to close three warehouses using the company’s technology.
Kroger said at the time that it had decided to shut the warehouses because its automated fulfilment network has not met financial expectations.
The closures incurred impairment and related charges in the third fiscal quarter of 2025 of approximately $2.6 billion.
During the same month, Ocado partnered with Auchan Poland to launch an automated CFC for the grocery retail chain at Wilcza Góra near Warsaw.
The facility, which measures 16,000 m2, represents the fastest-ever build for an Ocado CFC of this type, taking just 12 months to construct.
The CFC includes uses the full suite of Ocado’ automation technology, including On-Grid Robotic Pick (OGRP) and Auto Frame-Load (AFL).
