Just weeks after Kroger agreed to make a one-time $350 million payment to Ocado Group, the warehouse technology provider announced that exclusivity terms had ended with the grocer and other companies internationally.

Kroger’s latest deal with Ocado followed recent fulfillment strategy changes that were addressed alongside Kroger’s latest earnings results for its fiscal third quarter. The company revealed that it would rely more heavily on DoorDash’s fulfillment infrastructure for thousands of its stores.

Kroger ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Digital Commerce 360 projects that Kroger online sales will reach $19.98 billion in 2025.

What Ocado Group’s announcement means for its technology and partners

“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 Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group. “In the five years since our first international CFCs [Customer Fulfillment Centres] 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’s Dec. 30 announcement was not entirely unexpected. The company detailed in July that it anticipated exclusivity arrangements to transition away by the end of 2025 in most of its markets. According to Ocado, non-exclusivity would open up new opportunities in large grocery markets globally. Outside of the United Kingdom, where Ocado is based, its grocery partners include Aeon in Japan, ICA Gruppen in Sweden and Lotte Shopping in South Korea, among others.

Ocado and Canada-based Sobeys previously ended an exclusivity agreement alongside plans to bring Ocado’s automated warehouse technology to Vancouver.

Ocado Group’s future

“Today, our fulfilment solutions span Store-Based Automation, AI-powered manual fulfilment in stores and dark stores, and automated CFCs of all sizes, ranging from micro-fulfillment to larger facilities,” Steiner stated. “Together, they enable our partners to deliver a world-leading customer experience, including delivery options from immediacy to same-day, next day, and click-and-collect.”

In Ocado Group’s Dec. 30 announcement, the company expressed its intent to “commence new commercial activity in multiple international grocery markets.”

Ocado has been working over the past decade to make inroads into the U.S. market. Those efforts accompanied pushes in the U.K., elsewhere in Europe and in other regions.

According to information on Ocado’s website, its technology is currently used by 13 Ocado Smart Platform partners, at 25 CFCs and more than 1,000 stores.

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