Ocado to Offer Grocery Tech to More Customers After Exclusivity Deals End

Ocado Group is set to offer its grocery technology to more potential customers after its mutual exclusivity arrangements ended with retailers in most of the markets in which it operates, including Kroger in the United States.

The company expects to add new partners in several international grocery markets while continuing to work with its existing partners, it said in a Tuesday (Dec. 30) press release.

Ocado Group CEO Tim Steiner said in the release that the company is “well positioned to help more retailers capture market share in the world’s fastest-growing grocery channel,” which is the online business.

The company’s artificial intelligence-powered and robotic solutions help partners offer delivery options that include immediate, same-day, next-day and click-and-collect, Steiner said in the release. The solutions include store-based automation, AI-powered manual fulfillment and automated customer fulfilment centres (CFCs).

“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,” Steiner said in the release.

Ocado disclosed in a Nov. 18 update that Kroger announced that it planned to close three CFCs in the United States in January 2026. Ocado added that Kroger would continue to operate five other CFCs in the U.S., and that the grocery retailer would pay Ocado more than $250 million for fees related to the closure of three CFCs.

“Ocado continues to support Kroger to optimize logistics operations and drive profitable volume growth in these remaining sites, with constructive ongoing discussions around further use of Ocado’s technology to support Kroger,” Ocado said in its update.

Kroger said in a Nov. 18 press release that the automated fulfillment network was “not meeting financial expectations,” that the company was closing the three automated facilities to optimize its fulfillment network and that it would monitor the performance of the remaining facilities.

“In geographies where Kroger sees higher density of demand, the company will continue to take advantage of automated customer fulfillment to increase customer engagement, capacity, and improve productivity and profitability,” Kroger said in the release.

Meanwhile, Ocado announced other news about partnerships around the world this year. The company launched its first CFC in Poland with Auchan Polska, opened a new CFC in Spain with Bon Preu and launched the Ocado Smart Platform in South Korea with Lotte.