In online grocery, the Ocado Smart Platform is unmatched when it comes to fulfilling orders at large volumes – offering leading economics, range, and service.

But what happens when the market demands a wide range, scale and speed?

Shorter lead-time orders – those placed and delivered within 2-6 hours are increasingly popular across many online grocery markets. Customers want the convenience of orders delivered across multiple lead-times, ranging from planned (next day+) deliveries, to delivery within hours of placing an order. 

The challenge? How to deliver a high proportion of short lead time orders, without losing the benefits of scale and efficiency that come from centralised fulfilment. These benefits include access to the widest possible range of items at the most competitive price point.

Meeting customer demands without compromising efficiency

Ocado Swift Router is a combination of operational upgrades and new software capabilities that allow grocers to serve varying order types from both short lead time (2-6hr) and long lead time orders on the same routes – using our Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs).

This optimised approach unlocks new market opportunities for Ocado’s partners, helping to meet customer expectations for speed and range, without compromising on efficiency and the economics of scale.

Flipping conventional fulfilment on its head

Traditional fulfilment models (whether store-based or warehouse-based) often work like a manufacturing line, dispatching orders at the back as quickly as they are being picked up at the front. This downstream process is designed to expedite the dispatch of completed orders from the warehouse and prevent bottlenecks in warehouse operations. But this linear approach creates pressure on the fulfilment process to continue moving at a fast and reliable rate, limiting flexibility and ability to adapt to change.

In contrast, the ‘Hive’, our grid-based storage and picking system in our fulfilment centres, is a unified storage, picking and dispatching system. Because picking works in parallel, we can process last-minute orders at pace.  

Once picked, both same-day and next-day orders are stored in the hive. 

With Ocado Swift Router, we take this a step further. Longer-lead-time orders can now be pre-picked and held in the grid, then dynamically combined with shorter-lead-time orders that are picked just before delivery. Together, they are routed for dispatch at the last moment, maximising route efficiency in the last mile.

‍

How Ocado Swift Router works

With Ocado Swift Router, orders placed several days in advance can now be delivered alongside those shorter lead time orders, on the same van route. Opening up short-lead-time order volume opportunities, and therefore growth opportunities for our partners.

Ocado Swift Router is now live across fifteen CFCs, supporting deliveries in as little as two hours from customer order. In leading CFCs, this capability is already enabling Ocado Retail customers to receive CFC-fulfilled orders in under two hours. 

We are also rolling out Swift Router internationally. In CFCs with the most advanced rollout of the new functionality, the technology has already enabled up to 40% same day volumes and a record delivery time of 73 minutes from click to delivery of a full-basket, 40 item order - demonstrating that short lead time orders at speed are possible from a centralised fulfilment centre. 

‍

We continue to refine our solution, making the process smoother and more effective over time for our partners. Retailers retain full flexibility over how and when they deploy Ocado Swift Router, enabling them to adapt the capability in line with their business strategy.

Ocado Swift Router unlocks a step change in flexibility for both retailers and shoppers. It enables CFCs to serve a high proportion of same day and short lead time orders without the high costs and trade-offs traditionally associated with faster fulfilment (reduced range, availability challenges, premium pricing).

The changing face of flexible fulfilment 

The shift in approach changes both how orders can be fulfilled, and the markets we can serve with CFCs. Enabling short lead-time orders from our CFCs can serve as a powerful growth lever for partners across all markets, providing them with more opportunities to capture new demand and drive revenue, particularly in markets where convenience and short lead times are significant.

With Ocado Swift Router, we are opening new market opportunities for partners, helping them meet changing customer expectations for speed and range without compromising the efficiency provided by the Ocado Smart Platform.