The Retail Delivery Debacle: An Opportunity in Disguise?
There is a certain, quiet satisfaction in watching a corporate giant admit they have got something spectacularly wrong. When America’s second-largest grocer, Kroger, writes off a cool $2.6 billion on a fleet of automated warehouses, it is more than just a bad day at the office. To me, it feels like a watershed moment, a public admission that the dream of every retailer becoming a slick, automated logistics powerhouse was, well, a bit of a fantasy.
And let’s be honest, why should we be surprised? Running a supermarket is one thing. Building and operating a network of robot-filled fulfilment centres is quite another. It is a fiendishly complex and eye-wateringly expensive business. Kroger’s costly experiment has served as a cautionary tale for the entire sector, and I think it signals a great pivot back towards common sense.