NEW YORK (AP) — Kroger is closing three e-commerce fulfillment facilities in Texas and Florida, the grocery chain confirmed this week.
Cross-docking warehouses in Austin, San Antonio and Miami will close at the end of May, a Kroger spokesperson told The Associated Press on Thursday, adding that all affected employees are being offered other opportunities within the company. added.
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 set up for success.'' It didn't meet the standards.”
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. Orders are assembled in Ocado's large automated facility and shipped to a cross-docking warehouse where they are loaded onto small 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 Austin and Miami cross-docking warehouses scheduled to close were opened in March and February of last year, and the San Antonio warehouse 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.
A Kroger spokesperson said the decision to close the three locations in Austin, San Antonio and Miami 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.
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