Kroger expands delivery in Texas
- Kroger has added a 70,000-square-foot fulfillment facility to its portfolio in Texas.
- The Austin, Texas-facility is a spoke facility, meaning it will work in conjunction with the larger fulfillment center hub in Dallas.
- Kroger has fulfillment centers in nine states with plans to add more.
Kroger has opened a new spoke fulfillment facility in Austin, Texas, which will help it enable delivery in the region.
The grocer in a March 30 release said the approximately 70,000-square-foot facility would employ around 70 people. The facility will work in tandem with the large fulfillment facility in Dallas, Texas, the grocer said.
Delivery orders placed in the Austin area will be picked and packed at the Dallas facility and will be sent in climate-controlled vehicles to the Austin spoke facility. Upon their arrival in Austin, Kroger employees will check the orders and place them on refrigerated trucks for home delivery, Kroger said.
"Austin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and we are thrilled to connect more customers to the Kroger delivery shopping experience, which brings thousands of digital coupons, valuable fuel points and the freshest products directly to customers' doors," said Rebekah Manis, senior director of Kroger delivery fulfillment centers, in the release
While Kroger, the largest supermarket operator in the U.S., does have stores in Texas, it doesn’t have any brick-and-mortar supermarkets in Austin. It’s not the first time the Cincinnati, Ohio-based grocer has expanded delivery to areas without physical stores. As Retail Leader previously reported, the grocer earlier this year expanded its delivery presence in South Florida, a region with zero stores operated by Kroger. Earlier this month, the grocer also opened a 300,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Aurora, Colorado, to support delivery in the Denver region, where it operates King Soopers and City Market.
Kroger’s customer fulfillment facilities are powered by technology from the Ocado Group, a U.K.-based company specializing in e-commerce grocery delivery. Kroger operates hub and spoke facilities. The larger hub facilities, such as the one in Colorado, are where workers pick and pack groceries. At the hub sites, more than 1,000 robots navigate a 3D grid called “The Hive,” which has bins that get filled with products to be delivered to customers, according to the release.
Kroger, which intends to merge with rival Albertsons, operates customer fulfillment centers in eight states: Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan, Colorado and Maryland. It plans to add fulfillment centers in California, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and the Northeast, according to the release.