Sobeys to launch automated Ocado online fulfillment center in Vancouver
Sobeys Canada announced that its fourth e-commerce customer fulfilment centre ("CFC") will be located in the Greater Vancouver Area of British Columbia.
Exciting news from our partner @Sobeys today as Empire announce the acceleration of plans for two more Ocado CFCs in Canada to expand their grocery online coverage with @VoilabySobeys across the country! Read more here: https://t.co/ppwBOkPFV7 pic.twitter.com/ucwnE1TEhQ
— Luke Jensen (@LukeJensenOcado) July 22, 2020
Empire Company Press Release, February 7, 2022
STELLARTON, NS, Feb. 7, 2022 /CNW/ - Empire Company Limited ("Empire" or the "Company") (TSX: EMP.A) today announced that its fourth e-commerce customer fulfilment centre ("CFC") will be located in the Greater Vancouver Area of British Columbia.
Voilà will launch its online grocery home delivery service for customers in British Columbia in 2025. The CFC will benefit from new technology announced by Ocado which comes with more efficiencies and a lighter environmental and carbon footprint. For example, the new generation bots are five times lighter and require less energy and power to achieve the same throughput as the previous generation. Ocado has recently announced a range of innovations, which will be available for Empire to consider in future CFC automation and efficiency improvements.
"Ocado's central fulfillment and home delivery model is proving to be the most efficient on the market while delivering the best customer experience," said Sarah Joyce, SVP, E-commerce, Empire. "Ocado's recent innovations are making it even more efficient and sustainable – both for our business and the planet. Their commitment to ongoing innovation is one of the reasons we decided to partner with them. With CFCs in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia, we will reach 75 per cent of Canadian households and approximately 90 per cent of grocery e-commerce spend. We strongly believe that central fulfillment is the most profitable solution at scale, and that Voilà will be the top e-commerce grocery retailer in Canada."
The Company will lease the facility from Beedie, a third-party industrial developer based in Western Canada, who will build the site to Empire's specifications.
Michael Medline, President & CEO of Empire Company Ltd, talks about positive customer feedback and high NPS scores for @VoilabySobeys, and how Ocado Group has helped achieve this.#OcadoGroup #OcadoGroupResults #OnlineGrocery @Sobeys $OCDOhttps://t.co/Qpeth8ACpl
— Ocado Group (@OcadoGroup) February 16, 2021
Forward-Looking Information
This document contains forward-looking statements which are presented for the purpose of assisting the reader to contextualize the Company's financial position and understand management's expectations regarding the Company's strategic priorities, objectives and plans. These forward-looking statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are identified by words or phrases such as "anticipates", "expects", "believes", "estimates", "intends", "could", "may", "plans", "predicts", "projects", "will", "would", "foresees" and other similar expressions or the negative of these terms.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's expectations regarding the timing relating to the completion of the fourth CFC in B.C. which may be impacted by supply of materials and equipment, permit and construction schedules and performance of construction contractors.
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ABOUT EMPIRE
Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian company headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire's key businesses are food retailing, through wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc., and related real estate. With approximately $28.9 billion in annual sales and $16.0 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 134,000 people.
