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Coles to open new high-tech metropolitan fulfilment centres

Coles group will open two new high-tech Customer Fulfilment Centres  in Sydney and Melbourne in 2022.

The facilities will be utilised as highly automated Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) for Coles Online, significantly increasing Coles’ capacity to meet growing customer demand for online food and grocery shopping.

The new Coles CFC’s are in partnership with UK-based Ocado Group plc, to bring the world’s leading online grocery platform, automated single-pick fulfilment technology and home delivery solution to Australia.

Last year Coles announced its  partnership with Ocado, joining major international grocery retailers including Kroger in the US, Sobeys in Canada, Morrisons in the UK, Groupe Casino in France and Aeon in Japan in partnering with the tech giant to implement their end-to-end online shopping solution.

“A key element of the Ocado model is the company’s highly automated CFCs, which will enable Coles to provide customers with greater range and improved product availability while significantly increasing capacity to service online customers,” Coles Group said in a statement.

The Melbourne Coles facility, comprising of 30,000sqm, is located within the Midwest Logistics Hub, a 58 hectare estate on Dohertys Road, Truganina.

Coles will join Toll for their Mars Group contract and Uniqlo as long-term tenants at the Midwest Logistics Hub, that is already under construction.

In Sydney, also set to be 30,000sqm facility, the new distribution centre will be located at Horsley Drive in Wetherill Park and will anchor a 14 hectare estate being developed by Charter Hall.

Ocado will be responsible for the installation and ongoing maintenance of automation equipment in the CFCs.

Steven Cain, Coles CEO, said Ocado’s online fulfilment solution, which also includes new website technology for Coles Online and Ocado’s delivery management technology to maximise transport efficiency, would transform the Coles Online experience for customers while also reducing waste and improving safety for team members.

“Ocado has been a world leader in online fulfilment for more than a decade, and through our exclusive Australian partnership we will use their proven technology to offer customers more products than ever before, delivered at a time to suit them, while building capacity to service the growing demand for online food and grocery shopping,” he said.

Thinus Keeve, Coles Chief Property Officer, said these two Customer Fulfilment Centres will enable Coles Online to offer greater range and availability, from locations that allow the supermarket giant to deliver to customers across metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne.

Luke Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions, said securing the development sites was an extremely exciting moment for the Coles-Ocado partnership, following the recent opening of Ocado’s first international CFCs for partners in France and Canada.

“Ocado’s technology has revolutionised the way in which grocery shopping is done online,” he said.

“When these two Coles CFCs go live and begin to ramp up, they will be instrumental in delivering unrivalled online grocery experiences to Coles customers in Victoria and New South Wales. They will also create exciting job opportunities for engineers looking to work with some of the most cutting-edge robotics and automation technology in the world.”

David Harrison, Charter Hall Managing director and group CEO, said the on-going growth of e-commerce and the focus on supply-chain efficiencies continues to drive the demand for well located, high quality logistics facilities.

“Charter Hall has demonstrated, via expanding our relationship with Coles, that our industrial estates located near major transport infrastructure continue to be well sought after by our major retail and logistics customers,” he said.

“We are delighted to once again extend our cross-sector relationship with Coles and look forward to completing these exciting new projects for one of our largest tenant customer.”

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