WORLD
UK’s Ocado Retail to shutdown Hatfield fulfilment centre
On Tuesday, Ocado Retail, a joint venture between Ocado Group (OCDO.L) and Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), announced that its Hatfield customer fulfilment center would close this summer.
Retailers are moving to more productive and energy-efficient robotic customer fulfilment hubs.
Ocado said it expected no reduction in order volume owing to Hatfield’s shutdown, adding that current customer orders will be relocated to the company’s other UK facilities.
The oldest Ocado plant, Hatfield, employs 2,300 staff, and the store said it has begun a dialogue process with them to redeploy as many as feasible to other sites, particularly the soon-to-open Luton site.
Ocado expected new technologies to boost productivity and same-day delivery capabilities.