A Kroger spokesperson said the cross-docking facilities in Austin, San Antonio and Miami will close at the end of May.
TEXAS, USA — Kroger will close three spoke facilities in its e-commerce operations in Texas and Florida, the grocery chain confirmed this week.
Cross-docking facilities in Austin, San Antonio and Miami will close at the end of May, a Kroger spokesperson told The Associated Press on Thursday, and all affected employees will be given other opportunities within the company. He added that there is.
A Kroger spokesperson said, “Despite our best efforts, including support from new customers, learning from other locations, and great work from our employees, these facilities are not the best we have set up for success.'' It did not meet the standards set forth.”
The spokesperson added that the company “continues to expand its e-commerce footprint and bring fresh produce to more communities across the United States.”
This type of spoke facility increases the reach of Kroger's network with UK online retailer Ocado. Ocado's large automated facility assembles orders, which are then shipped to cross-docking spokes and loaded onto smaller delivery trucks.
Amid increased competition in e-commerce, particularly seen during the pandemic, Kroger and Ocado have continued to expand their partnership in recent years, including by building additional fulfillment centers and developing in-store ordering capabilities. Ta.
The cross-docking spokes scheduled to close in Austin and Miami opened in March and February of last year, and the San Antonio spoke opened in August 2022, a Kroger spokesperson said.
The Austin and San Antonio facilities are taking orders from a large automated warehouse in Dallas that opens in 2022. Another regional warehouse, Groveland, Fla., opened in June 2021 and serves a spoke in Miami.
Both the Dallas and Groveland facilities will remain open. A Kroger spokesperson said the decision to close the Austin, San Antonio and Miami locations does not affect those large facilities or other cross-docking locations.
Cincinnati-based Kroger is expected to report earnings of $2.96 a share in 2023 and had company-wide sales of $150 billion last year. This is up from 2022 earnings of $2.76 per share and sales of $148.3 billion.
In recent months, Kroger has also made headlines for its potential merger with Albertsons. The two grocery chains, one of the largest in the U.S., had hoped to complete the $24.6 billion deal by the end of the year, but the plan faces legal challenges and will at least not happen soon. seems to be quite unlikely.