Starting on 1 December, ICA’s highly automated warehouse in Brunna, outside Stockholm, will be in full operation. ICA is the first in Sweden to open a warehouse with a highly automated solution for groceries bought online.
E-commerce has grown sharply in recent years – in 2020 alone, ICA’s e-commerce share grew 117%. ICA’s ambition is to create an e-commerce operation that can grow with its needs for many years into the future. The company has invested SEK 1.1 billion in the e-commerce warehouse in Brunna, Stockholm, and is equipped with Ocado’s automation solution that has been adapted to ICA’s business model of independent retailers in cooperation. ICA is the first retailer in Sweden to launch a highly automated solution for online grocery shopping.
“In cooperation with the British company Ocado, we have developed a new platform that is scalable for needs of the future,” comments Anders Svensson, CEO of ICA Sweden. “The partnership with Ocado creates conditions to improve ICA’s customer offering and the efficiency of online shopping for groceries, and over time also for other product areas.”
In pace with customers’ changing needs and demands, ICA has identified a need to address these with agility, flexibility, and adaptation. "With help from Ocado’s solution, customers are offered a more personalized online shopping experience, and the technology gives ICA’s retailers the right conditions to create an online store that is profitable, efficient, and that can be adapted to their unique needs."
“The new e-commerce warehouse in Stockholm makes it possible to meet the rapidly growing demand for groceries bought online in the Stockholm and Mälardalen region,” says Peter Muld, Head of Strategy & Transformation at ICA Sweden. “The new warehouse, with Ocado’s automation solution, creates conditions for long-term profitable e-commerce.”
Tony Holmberg, Head of e-commerce for ICA Sweden, says: “We are now taking the next step in ICA’s e-commerce business and making it possible for local ICA stores to offer their customers a more personal and seamless shopping experience also online, to make every day a little easier. The highly automated e-commerce warehouse in Stockholm has the capacity to deliver a considerably larger and attractive range, and will meet demand in the Stockholm region for many years to come.”
The warehouse has a total area of 32,000 square meters and is located in Brunna, in Upplands Bro municipality just outside Stockholm. The e-commerce function in Jordbro will be gradually transferred to the new warehouse.
For more information:
ICA Gruppen
www.icagruppen.se