Ocado enters South Korea through deal with Lotte Shopping

Ocado has broken into the South Korean market by signing a deal with Lotte Shopping, part of Lotte Group, to develop their business using the Ocado Smart Platform.

Ocado and Lotte will create a network of customer fulfilment centres (CFC) while Ocado rolls out its in-store fulfilment solutions across Lotte’s enterprise.

Ocado says it plans to implement its in-store fulfilment solution in 2024, with the first of six CFCs due to go live in 2025.

Lotte Group is one of the largest conglomerates in South Korea with an annual revenue of £45 billion.

Lotte Shopping operates more than 1000 department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and ecommerce sites across the country, bringing in an annual revenue of £9.5 billion.

Kim Sang-hyun, CEO of Lotte Shopping, commented: “This partnership with Ocado, one of the most innovative companies worldwide, will be a great opportunity for Lotte Shopping to provide our customers with a new online grocery shopping experience.

“Also, I expect this will be the first step for us on the way not only to increasing our competitiveness and presence in the e-grocery market, but also to achieving the leading position in the overall grocery market in Korea.”

The partnership will give Ocado another important foothold in Asia Pacific as it targets further growth in the region.

Luke Jensen, chief executive of Ocado Solutions, added: “South Korea is among the most developed and dynamic markets for grocery ecommerce in the world. Lotte is a powerhouse grocery player in the market, with deep connections to its customers and the ambition to dominate the ecommerce channel in grocery. We can’t wait to introduce a game-changing proposition to Korean shoppers with Lotte.”