Morrisons to cease deliveries from Ocado’s Erith centre

Morrisons has announced that it will gradually cease deliveries from Ocado’s Erith Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC). 

Ocado has said that the decision comes as Morrisons has decided to process a greater share of its online deliveries through Dordon CFC and with in-store fulfilment. 

This also means that Ocado Retail will now have extra network capacity over the near term.

Ocado has supported Morrisons growth since May 2013, helping to establish and build an online grocery business delivering Morrisons food to thousands of shoppers each week. 

Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group, said: “With our world-leading technology, Ocado Retail and Morrisons offer amazing propositions in the UK online grocery market. As Ocado Retail moves towards full utilisation of existing capacity, this decision enables a helpful option to provide it with further short-term growth, without an expectation for additional capex. 

“As Morrisons reduce their operations at Erith and build their volumes in other parts of the network we are working with them to ensure seamless continuity of service to their customers and to continue strong market share growth across the UK market with the Ocado Smart Platform.”

Rami Baitiéh, CEO of Morrisons, added: “We have a successful partnership with Ocado and we value their expertise and their technology highly. As our online business continues to grow we have decided to process a greater share of our online volume through the Dordon CFC and with in-store fulfilment – which gives our customers full access to our unique Market Street offer. Morrisons.com will continue to service every postcode in England, Wales and Scotland, with no impact to customers.”