Kroger redefines the customer experience
through delivery
DALLAS, July 28,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR),
America's largest grocery retailer, today announced the official
opening of its newest Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) in
Dallas, Texas. Powered by the
Ocado Group (LSE: OCDO), the CFC will leverage advanced robotics
technology and creative solutions to redefine the customer
experience for customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"Kroger's fast-growing seamless ecosystem takes the promise of
zero compromise to the next level, with Kroger Delivery bringing
the freshest food and quality ingredients to your own doorstep—when
you want it, how you want it," said Bill
Bennett, Kroger Vice
President and Head of E-commerce. "Customers can use Kroger.com or
the Kroger app to check the weekly circular, select personalized
digital coupons, search products by dietary preference and
ultimately place their delivery order, saving time and money."
The company collaborated with the City
of Dallas, the Governor's Office of Economic Development and
Tourism, local and regional workforce solutions offices and school
districts for talent acquisition and development.
"Kroger's choice to establish a new Customer Fulfillment Center
in Dallas is a testament to the
state's exceptional business-climate and highly skilled workforce,"
said Governor Greg Abbott. "This new
center is great news for the people of North Texas, offering the local community
greater access to fresh, nutritious foods, and bringing good-paying
jobs and economic opportunities to hardworking Texans in the area.
I look forward to working alongside the company as we continue to
keep Texas the best place to live,
work, and raise a family."
"The opening of Kroger's new Customer Fulfillment Center is a
major win for our city — and it represents a tremendous investment
in southern Dallas," Mayor
Eric Johnson said. "This means
hundreds of jobs, it means more economic development, and it means
greater access to fresh groceries for all of our residents,
including those in our historically underserved and overlooked
communities. Together, we are building a more vibrant and more
equitable city."
Local shoppers also have access to the newly launched Boost by
Kroger annual membership program. For either $59 or $99 per
year, Boost provides customers with benefits like unlimited free
delivery on orders of $35 or more and
two Fuel Points for every $1 spent on
groceries and general merchandise purchases through Delivery,
Pickup and in-stores. Kroger estimates the membership can save
customers more than $1,000 per year
on fuel and grocery delivery.
"Today is a great day for District 8 and all of Dallas. The new state-of-the-art Kroger
fulfillment center provides hundreds and hundreds of good-paying
jobs to the Inland Port and they have already hired many of our
neighbors in the community," District 8 City Council Member and
Chair of the Economic Development Committee Tennell Atkins said. "The center means that more
people can get fresh and healthy groceries delivered right to their
door quickly. This is a true win-win project and I'm so glad to see
the doors open."
The 350,000 square-foot customer fulfillment center has brought
more than 500 new jobs to Dallas
and the surrounding communities. The facility will also work in
collaboration with spoke facilities located in Austin, San
Antonio and Oklahoma City.
Each spoke facility will serve as a last-mile cross-dock that will
enable Kroger Delivery to expand its services to more
customers.
Kroger Delivery Explained
This expansion represents an extension of a partnership between
Kroger and Ocado, a world leader in technology for grocery
e-commerce. In 2018, the companies announced a collaboration to
establish a delivery network that combines artificial intelligence
and automation in a bold new way, bringing first-of-its-kind
technology to America.
"Kroger and Ocado Group are building something truly unique in
the American grocery landscape," said Luke
Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions. "Our expanding fulfilment
network is reaching more and more customers, bringing the benefits
of our cutting-edge innovation to Kroger communities nationwide.
Today's event marks the start of a service in Dallas that will bring a whole new standard of
grocery experience to homes across Texas and beyond."
The delivery network relies on highly automated fulfillment
centers. At the hub sites, more than 1,000 bots move around giant
3D grids, orchestrated by proprietary control systems. The grid,
known as The Hive, contains totes with products and
ready-to-deliver customer orders. As customers' orders near
delivery times, bots retrieve products from The Hive and present
them at pick stations for items to be sorted for delivery, a
process governed by algorithms that ensure items are intelligently
packed. For example, fragile items are placed on top, bags are
evenly weighted and each order is optimized to fit into the lowest
number of bags, reducing plastic use. Bags are also recyclable,
reflecting Kroger's commitment to its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste
commitment to rid its communities of hunger and waste.
Kroger's end-to-end cold solutions keep groceries fresh once
loaded onto customized refrigerated delivery vans, which can store
up to 20 orders. Powerful machine learning algorithms optimize
delivery routes, considering factors like road conditions and
optimal fuel efficiency. Drivers may travel up to 90 miles with
orders from facilities to make deliveries.
Kroger currently operates customer fulfillment centers in
Monroe, OH, Groveland, FL, Forest Park, GA (Atlanta), Pleasant
Prairie, WI, Dallas, TX and
Romulus, MI (Detroit), with additional customer fulfillment
centers slated for California,
Frederick, MD, Phoenix, AZ, Cleveland, OH, Charlotte, NC, Aurora, CO (Denver), as well as South Florida and the Northeast.
Media Assets
To download Kroger Delivery photography and video,
visit here.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for
Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit®.
We are, across our family of companies, nearly half a million
associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a
seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner names.
We are committed to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by
2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and
investor relations site.
About Ocado Group
Ocado Group is a UK based technology company admitted to trading
on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker OCDO). It provides end-to-end
online grocery fulfillment solutions to some of the world's largest
grocery retailers and holds a 50% share of Ocado Retail Ltd in the
UK in a Joint Venture with Marks & Spencer. Ocado has spent two
decades innovating for grocery online, investing in a wide
technology estate that includes robotics, AI & machine
learning, simulation, forecasting, and edge intelligence.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.