Ocado Group appoints first chief revenue officer

Ocado Group has appointed its first-ever chief revenue officer as it looks to boost its valuation and drive global sales across the group.  He joins the group from Atos, a specialist in digital transformation, where he was the global head of sales. He previously held positions at Hewlett Packard and Electronic Data Systems. 

In his new role, de la Vega will report to Ocado co-founder and CEO, Tim Steiner. 

He will be responsible for supporting and developing relationships with Ocado’s partners, presently spanning 13 grocery retailers in 11 markets, and will lead sales efforts for the company’s technology platform in areas such as pharmaceuticals and apparel, where the business has expanded in recent years.

It comes as most of Ocado “plans to ramp up” commercial discussions worldwide after its exclusivity agreements are expected to have rolled off across multiple markets by the end of this year.

Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nick to the business at an important moment in Ocado’s evolution. He will play a critical role in taking the Ocado offer to a broader range of customers, as well as developing and strengthening our relationship with existing partners.

“It has been almost eight years since we started to bring Ocado’s technology to international grocery retailers. Over that time, we have invested significantly in our technology. We will now bring the benefits of this investment back to some of the world’s most exciting grocery markets, with a wider fulfilment toolkit, greater flexibility and new commercial leadership.”

The appointment comes as the company’s shares have been under pressure in recent months. Last month, Ocado’s market value fell by about £500m in a single day after its key US partner said it would take a “hard look” at future investments in automated warehouses.

More than £500m was wiped from Ocado’s market value last week after its US retail partner said it would review investment into its automated warehouses. 

The group’s shares fell by almost 20% after US supermarket chain Kroger said it would take a “hard look” at further investment into Ocado’s network of robot-operated warehouses. 

In a call to analysts, chair and interim CEO of Kroger, Ronald Sargent, said the group would “evaluate all options across all facilities to improve profitability” and conduct a “full site-by-site analysis” of the automated fulfillment network.