Ocado has signed a major joint venture agreement with French supermarket giant Groupe Casino.
The Memorandum of Understanding will extend their partnership, which to date has been based in Paris’s home Ile-de-France region.
The new JV is focused on the development and management of new customer fulfilment centres throughout France.Alongside the JV, Ocado Solutions will offer its automated fulfilment and software solutions to all grocery retailers in the French market.
Also announced today, London-listed Ocado will integrate technology from Octopia, a marketplace platform launched by French eCommerce retailer Cdiscount, into its global platform.
The agreement between Ocado and Cdiscount also provides a preferential option for Ocado to buy Octopia shares in the event of future fundraising.
“The online grocery channel in France has reached an inflection point, with a huge rise in demand for compelling, affordable and efficient grocery ecommerce propositions,” said Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group.
“Our growing partnership and live operations in Ile-de-France have set the highest bar for the experience French consumers can expect in online grocery.
“This announcement marks a deepening of the relationship between Groupe Casino and Ocado Group, and it will further support the capital light expansion of our partnership into other French regions.
“For the first time, it will also open up the whole of the French grocery market to Ocado’s solutions.
“Additionally, by integrating the Octopia marketplace into our end-to-end smart platform, we are bringing more proven, market-leading flexibility to our partners’ online ecosystems.”
Jean-Charles Naouri, Groupe Casino, said: “Casino Group is pleased to announce this new agreement with Ocado Group. This partnership illustrates our ability to once again revolutionise the way of disrupting the online grocery market.
“After having experienced the success of the Ocado solution with Monoprix Plus, Casino Plus and Naturalia Marché Bio, the French consumers will be able to benefit from new, even more efficient e-commerce services, making their daily needs even easier.
“Casino Group is very proud that Ocado chooses Octopia for its marketplace solution recognizing its word-class functionality.”