Ocado Group, in collaboration with grocery retailer Lotte Shopping, has unveiled their inaugural automated customer fulfillment center (CFC) in South Korea, marking the introduction of several Ocado technologies in the region for the first time.
Located in Busan, this new facility will cater to approximately four million households within the city and the broader Yeongnam area, thereby facilitating Lotte’s growth in South Korea’s swiftly expanding online grocery sector.
This initiative comes on the heels of a partnership established between the two companies in 2022, with Lotte starting to utilize the Ocado Smart Platform in 2025 to effectively manage online orders through Ocado’s in-store fulfillment system.
The new CFC features Ocado’s advanced fully automated freezer, the Auto-Freezer, which integrates the company’s ‘hive and bot’ technology even in sub-zero conditions of -25°C. This innovation is projected to achieve more than double the operational efficiency compared to conventional manual freezer setups.
Additionally, the center will enable ‘dawn delivery,’ ensuring that freshly packed grocery items are delivered to customers before 7 AM, a critical aspect of South Korea’s e-commerce grocery landscape.
Ocado has indicated that this location is anticipated to be the most environmentally sustainable CFC in its operations worldwide. It plans to operate a completely electric vehicle fleet for daytime deliveries and incorporate more energy-efficient, 3D-printed robots alongside multi-temperature totes to optimize delivery storage capacity. Lotte is also expected to implement solar panels to lower annual carbon emissions by over 1,000 tonnes.
Nick De La Vega, chief revenue officer at Ocado Group, remarked, “This is another major milestone for Ocado as we launch one of our most advanced CFCs to date in one of the world’s leading markets for grocery e-commerce.”
Cha Woo Chul, chief executive of Lotte Mart & Super, stated, “By delivering farm-fresh produce on schedule to 4 million households in the Yeongnam region, we will reshape the paradigm of domestic online grocery shopping.”
Currently, online grocery sales in South Korea account for approximately 28% of total retail sales in the sector, significantly surpassing most major grocery markets globally, with projected sales reaching KRW 52.3 trillion in 2025, equivalent to around £26.5 billion, according to Statistics Korea.