Ripples spread across financial sectors when the supermarket chain giant Kroger announced plans to close three of its recently opened automated locations. Each store had started up only a few years before, heralded as the first stage of the company’s drive into the future. In a partnership with the Ocado e-commerce grocery platform, Kroger borrowed Ocado’s existing systems to design its software and robotics, then integrated the resulting Smart Platform into eight fulfillment centers. The goal was to complete vast numbers of digital orders efficiently and thereby offer shorter turnaround times and more diverse delivery options. But online grocery orders have not matched optimistic predictions, such that Kroger has not been able to establish economies of scale that might justify the costs associated with operating independent fulfillment centers dedicated solely to e-commerce. In a revised strategy, Kroger plans to expand its partnerships with third-party food delivery partners, like UberEats and Door Dash. It also anticipates that it will recover from the failed experiment, citing an overall annual profit goal that was nearly half a billion dollars more than the results it achieved last year. Ocado also made out well, receiving a settlement worth more than one-quarter of a billion dollars. But for workers, the closure of the fulfillment centers means layoffs; reports from a single facility in Groveland, Florida, suggest that 1,400 employees were left out of work following its shuttering.

Sources: Anuja Bharat Mistry, “Kroger to Close Some Automated Facilities, to Incur $2.6 Billion Charge,” Reuters, November 18, 2025; “Kroger to Close Automated Fulfillment Center in Groveland,” WKMG-TV, November 18, 2025; Scott Harrell, “Lake County Releases Statement on Kroger Distribution Center Closing,” 352today, November 18, 2025.