National supermarket chains and big box retailers including Kroger and Walmart learned as much about the digital threat from China’s Alibaba as from Amazon.
New automated fulfillment centers are a critical part of the technology effort. These centers use AI and robotics to replace labor-intensive work of sorting and bagging groceries for delivery, while on-site employees handle such operations as engineering and inventory management.
Zakkour credited Kroger for being one of the more progressive U.S. retailers in implementing this omnichannel approach.company that doesn't have a laser beam focus on tech that Kroger does is vulnerable," said Jim Russell, principal at investment firm Bahl & Gaynor in Cincinnati. "These digital trends continue to roll forward, and Kroger is delivering very strong results in the pandemic and post-pandemic period.
Supermarkets had been lagging other sectors in e-commerce with three to four percent of total sales but tripled during the pandemic, according to McKinsey, which predicts that e-commerce will represent 18 percent of supermarket sales within the next three to five years. Under a Restock Kroger initiative begun five years ago, the grocer combined physical and digital experiences, a strategy that has required major, long-term investment in robotics and supply chain management, as well as data analytics to understand and predict customer habits, and to personalize marketing.
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