Ocado

Ocado was founded in April 2000 by Jonathan Faiman, Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner, former merchant bankers with Goldman Sachs. Ocado was launched in January 2000 as a concept and started trading as a business in partnership with Waitrose in January 2002. When the company first started, Faiman, Gissing and Steiner ran every part of the business themselves.In September 2006, Michael Grade became non-executive chairman of Ocado, shortly after Goldman Sachs were appointed as financial advisers, fuelling speculation which had already started about a listing for the company. In November 2008, the John Lewis Partnership transferred its shareholding of 29% into its staff pension fund. In May 2010 the John Lewis Partnership entered into a 10-year branding and supply agreement with Ocado. In February 2011, the John Lewis pension fund sold off its entire Ocado shareholding.On 13 July 2009, Ocado released its first app for the iPhone. The app, called 'Ocado on the Go', allows users to do their grocery shopping without the need for a PC. On 19 April 2010, the company extended the app to Android devices. The Android app has a number of features that the iPhone app does not have, including the ability to control the app using only the voice. In 2015, Ocado launched the first grocery app for the Apple Watch.In July 2010, following considerable speculation, Ocado undertook a stock market Initial public offering.In August 2017, Ocado launched an app for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, that will allow users to add products to an existing Ocado order or basket via voice command. The company states it is the first UK supermarket to launch an app for Alexa.In 2015 Ocado launched the Ocado Smart Platform, its proprietary end-to-end solution for operating retail businesses online.In November 2017, Ocado's shares rose by 20% following the fulfillment of an Ocado Smart Platform deal with the French Casino Group.In January 2018, Ocado completed negotiations for an Ocado Smart Platform deal with Canada's second largest supermarket chain Sobeys, owned by Empire Company. Michael Medline, CEO of Empire and Sobeys, said its e-commerce business would start in approximately two years.In May 2018 Ocado signed an Ocado Smart Platform deal with Kroger, the US retail company, to build up to 20 Customer Fulfillment Centres using Ocado's automated technologies.In the early morning of 5 February 2019, Ocado's customer fulfilment centre in Andover, Hampshire, which handles 10 per cent of its fulfilments, caught fire. The fire continued to burn the following day, engaging more than 25 fire engines and 300 firefighters from multiple fire services, as far as Kent. A 500-metre exclusion zone was set up and residents as far as 1.6 km away were to be evacuated as a precaution. The fire burned for more than 3 days, with the roof collapsing in the process. The fire was found to have started due a fault in a battery charging unit, and was exacerbated by worker responses. The warehouse was rebuilt, and was operational by August 2021.On 27 February 2019, Ocado and Marks and Spencer announced a Joint Venture, whereby M&S acquired a 50% share in Ocado's UK retail business.On 4 June 2019, Computerworld UK reported Ocado’s intent to use robotic packers to handle all 55,000 products it stocks, utilizing technology developed in collaboration with SOMA, the Soft Manipulation consortium. Ocado will initially use suction cup-based robots to handle durable objects, but plans to deploy “soft hands” robotic technology to handle delicate products such as fresh fruits and vegetables.By September 2022, Kroger and Ocado had opened over 20 sites across the US.