Ocado said to be in early talks with Coles over robots in stores, shares jump

(Sharecast News) - Ocado surged on Wednesday following a report that Australia's Coles is exploring the use of robots in its supermarkets to pick and pack grocery orders and is in early stage talks with the London-listed company about trialling the technology in one of its Melbourne stores. According to Financial Review, which cited sources familiar with the plans, no commercial agreement has been reached.

Ocado's technology allows robots to pick and pack online grocery orders inside a dedicated section of the supermarket that is closed to the public. For Coles, the model could provide a faster way to fulfil express delivery orders while avoiding the cost of building another large-scale automated warehouse, FR said.

Coles already has an agreement with Ocado, struck in 2024, for its fulfilment centre 20 kilometres west of Melbourne's central business district, where it uses robots and AI to help process as many as 10,000 customer orders daily. At the time of its launch, the site had 700 robots, able to fulfil a 50-item order in just five minutes. It has a similar facility in Sydney.

It was understood that the proposed store-based model would be a much smaller version of those facilities, effectively turning part of a supermarket into an automated mini-warehouse.

A Coles spokesman told Financial Review that the retailer regularly explores new delivery capabilities with its technology and delivery partners.

"Coles is always looking at ways to strengthen our omnichannel offer and make shopping easier and more convenient for our customers," the spokesman said. "We already offer customers world-leading next-day home delivery options, alongside a strong immediacy offer through our delivery partnerships, and we continue to explore new technologies and opportunities that could further improve the customer experience and drive greater efficiency."

At 1125 BST, Ocado shares were up 6.9% at 280.40p.