Kroger plans to build the second of 20 automated distribution centers in partnership with UK grocer Ocado for fulfilling ecommerce orders in Groveland, FL. The state-of-the-art FCs, built by Kroger and powered by Ocado’s automation technology, are just part of Kroger’s innovation push including driverless and same-day delivery.
Walmart continues to see strong topline growth in ecommerce, with online revenue increasing 43% in the fourth quarter and 40% for the full year. But profit in the channel remains elusive and losses are expected to continue this year based on investments in infrastructure, people, online grocery and Store No. 8 initiatives, executives said.
Bringg, a logistics software provider in the retail, grocery, restaurant, pharmacy and 3PL categories, has raised $25 million in a Series C funding round to increase its market reach, invest in its team and step up its R&D efforts. See what the company has been up to and how it is disrupting the same-day delivery logistics sector.
Instacart, the same-day grocery delivery company used by many grocers, is dealing with customer ire as freelance shoppers fulfilling the orders are passing up some jobs due to a change in the pricing structures. Also a number of shoppers have taken to Twitter to call for a boycott of the service due to a drop in their wages.
After beefing up its grocery delivery chops here, including automated kiosks and crowdsourcing, Walmart is now testing same-day grocery delivery to customers in China through a hookup with WeChat and delivery service Dada. This is separate from Walmart’s partnership with JD.com, although both have invested in Dada.
Grocery giant Kroger is adding voice ordering to its online arsenal, interestingly hitching its wagon to the Google Assistant voice app and not to Amazon’s Echo, at six of its associated brands, the company announced. See what else Kroger is up to as well as other tech skirmishes in the escalating online grocery wars.
