LONDON, ENGLAND - Kroger could be inching closer to the high-tech network of automated distribution facilities. Since penning the outlines a partnership with UK-based online retailer Ocado this May, the two companies have purportedly been hard at work identifying locations for automated distribution points. This week, Ocado’s Chief Financial Officer told reporters that the companies had made “good progress” identifying locations for the first of what will be at least 20 automated warehouse locations.
“They’re making good progress identifying which particular sites and which particular cities. And we’re making good progress working on the details of the commercial relationship,” Duncan Tatton-Brown, CFO of Ocado, told reporters according to Reuters. “There’s a lot of work going on because even though the final deal (service agreement) isn’t agreed we are actually being paid. So nothing is holding us up.”
Tatton-Brown didn’t name specific locations.
Kroger is currently working to identify the first three sites for its new warehouses. These warehouses are expected to take two years to construct.
According to Reuters, Ocado’s stock value has risen more than 200 percent over the last year—in large part thanks to major partnerships like the one with Kroger and other international retailers like Casino’s Monoprix.
For more information as the two retailers make progress, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
