Asda is getting into bed with Ocado
Key Points
- Asda has signed a partnership with Ocado Group to rebuild its online business on the Ocado Smart Platform, with go-live targeted for early 2027.
- Asda fulfils more than 700,000 ecommerce orders weekly and recorded total sales above £21bn in 2025 across roughly 1,100 stores.
- Ocado will supply its webshop front-end, In-Store Fulfilment, and last-mile routing software across Asda stores and dark stores from 2027.
- Asda will use the platform to fulfil orders placed through Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat.
- Ocado expects to turn cash flow positive in the second half of this financial year, with full-year positivity expected in FY27.
Asda has agreed a partnership with Ocado Group to rebuild its entire online grocery operation on the Ocado Smart Platform, with the rollout running across stores and dark stores from 2027.
Asda recorded total sales of more than £21 billion in 2025, operates around 1,100 stores nationwide, and fulfils more than 700,000 ecommerce orders every week from a network of stores and dark stores across the UK.
The partnership will replace and upgrade Asda’s existing ecommerce infrastructure.
Ocado will deploy its end-to-end solutions across Asda’s online operations, including the Ocado front-end webshop, in-store fulfilment, and software that supports last-mile planning and route efficiency. The two companies will work together over the coming months to enable go-live in early 2027.
The platform will let Asda offer scheduled and short lead-time orders alongside click and collect. Asda will also use Ocado’s technology to fulfil and deliver orders placed through aggregator platforms, including Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat.
That ties Asda’s online future directly to the rapid-delivery aggregator market where a growing share of grocery spending now flows.
The deal is notable because Ocado runs its own UK retail business through the Ocado.com joint venture with Marks & Spencer, which competes directly with Asda on the grocery shop floor.
Ocado is now selling its technology to a company it competes against for the same shoppers. The arrangement underlines how Ocado increasingly positions itself as a technology provider rather than a grocer, licensing its systems to retailers rather than relying solely on selling food.
Ocado said it does not expect the transaction to have a material financial impact in FY26. The company expects to turn cash flow positive during the second half of this financial year, with full-year cash flow positivity expected in FY27.
A domestic client of Asda’s scale strengthens the case that Ocado’s technology-licensing model works in its home market.
Tim Steiner, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado Group, said Asda would deploy a platform that already processes more than 70 million orders annually worldwide and supports customer propositions across 11 countries.
He said the UK remains one of the world’s most competitive online grocery markets, where technology and scale increasingly determine which retailers hold leadership positions.
Allan Leighton, Executive Chairman of Asda, said Asda is the cheapest full-range supermarket, as shown by independent price comparisons from Which? and The Grocer, and already operates a large online business.
He said partnering with Ocado would strengthen Asda’s online offer and provide a consistent experience for shoppers from order through to delivery, supporting the retailer’s Formula for Growth.
