Ocado Group has secured a sizeable new partner for its Ocado Smart Platform, signing up Asda to overhaul the supermarket’s online grocery operation across the UK.
Ocado investors are in desperate need of some good news, and the deal will be more than welcome.
Asda turned over more than £21bn in 2025 and already handles upwards of 700,000 ecommerce orders a week from its network of around 1,100 stores and dark stores.
Winning business of this scale gives Ocado a flagship UK partnership at a time it needs to demonstrate to the market its technology business is still relevant and can win meaningful contracts beyond its existing partner roster.
The plan is to deploy Ocado’s end-to-end kit across Asda’s operations, including the webshop front-end, in-store fulfilment, and the routing and last-mile software that has long been Ocado’s calling card.
Roll-out is pencilled in for early 2027, with both sides working through the commercial framework in the coming months. Once live, Asda will be able to offer scheduled and short lead-time deliveries, click and collect, and crucially fulfil orders coming in through the likes of Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat, plugging the supermarket into the rapid-delivery aggregator economy.
The deal won’t materially impact Ocado’s numbers in FY26, but the strategic read-across is more interesting and, hopefully, gives Ocado a boost before revenues from the deal have an impact in 2027.
Ocado is sticking with its guidance to turn cash flow positive in the second half of this year, with full-year cash flow positivity earmarked for FY27, when Asda revenues start flowing.