Kroger Co. (Cincinnati) CEO Rodney McMullen told attendees at the National Retail Federation’s (Washington, D.C.) The Big Show in his opening keynote speech Sunday that the grocer anticipated Amazon’s (Seattle) expansion into the grocery sector and acted on that suspicion.
According to McMullen, this is why Kroger purchased Harris Teeter Supermarkets for $2.5 billion five years ago. “We assumed at some point Amazon was going to do something in the physical world,” said McMullen, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. “It was the drive of our assumption of what they would do that we felt we needed to accelerate where we where.”
Amazon purchased Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas) in August 2017. Since that acquisition, Kroger has continued to ramp up its digital and home delivery efforts, including purchasing U.K.-based grocery delivery company Ocado. With its newfound capabilities it will open 20 warehouse/distribution centers across the U.S. over the next three years.