Lotte Shopping becomes Ocado's 12th partner
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Ocado to build six robotic warehouses by 2028
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Ocado shares soar 34%
(Adds detail, analyst comment, updates shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, has entered South Korea, one of the most mature e-commerce markets in the world, through a partnership deal with Lotte Shopping, the companies said on Tuesday.
Shares in Ocado soared 34% by 1241 GMT, paring 2022 losses to 62%, after Ocado and Lotte said they would develop a network of robotic warehouses, 파워사다리 or Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs) as Ocado calls them, across South Korea to expand Lotte's online grocery bus
br>/p> Lotte becomes Ocado's 12th partner across 10 coun
br>/p> "Lotte management recognises Ocado's latest innovation as ahead of anything else in the market and its end-to-end solution as unmatched, differentiating its solution from others," said analysts at RBC Europe, adding that the deal provides the market with renewed confidence in Ocado's technology attracting more par
br>/p> Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said the deal ranked in the top tier of its partnership agreements after deals in the United Kingdom, the United States and
br>/p> "It's a very significant market for us to move into," he told repo
br>/p> Six CFCs are planned by 2028, with the first scheduled to go live in 2025.

Ocado's in-store fulfilment technology will also be rolled out across Lotte stores from
br>/p> The deal includes a suite of technological innovations from lightweight robots to hi-tech van routing systems that Ocado unveiled in Ja
br>/p> It will also introduce multi-storey CFCs for the first time, which unlock a wider range of property types for CFCs, enabling more efficient use of space in densely built environ
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br>/p> Fees to be paid by Lotte to Ocado are similar to those agreed with its other international partners, which include Kroger Co in the United States, Aeon in Japan and Casino in F
br>/p> Lotte will pay certain fees upfront and during the development phase, then ongoing fees linked to both sales achieved and installed cap
br>/p> The pair said the deal was exclusive, meaning they will not take other partners as long as expansion criteria ar
br>/p> Lotte Shopping, part of South Korea's Lotte Group conglomerate, operates department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and e-commerce, with more than 1,000 stores nationwide and an annual revenue of 9.5 billion pounds ($10.9 bil
br>/p> It said the impact of the deal should be negligible on earnings in the current financial year as no cash fees will be recognised in revenue until operations
br>/p> Ocado expects minimal additional capital expenditure in its 2023 financial year with the majority of additional capex in the 12 months prior to the opening of
br>/p> Steiner said new capital was not req
br>/p> He also said Ocado had a "strong pipeline" of potential new par
br>/p> "We believe that we will sign more deals as our addressable market grows," he
br>/p> Ocado's management also told analysts that they viewed Kroger's purchase of Albertsons as very positive for Ocado.

Ocado's deal with Kroger is its la
br>/p> Ocado Group's shares have been hurt this year by the performance of Ocado Retail, its retail joint venture with Marks & Spencer. ($1 = 0.8685 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young, Jason Neely, Ed Osmond and David
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