US grocery delivery company Instacart suffered a new setback on Thursday when Kroger Co., one of its major US customers, announced a partnership with British automated online grocery service Ocado Group Plc.
Kroger's deal with Ocado - coming less than a year after Amazon.com bought key Instacart partner Whole Foods - puts more pressure on the five-year-old San Francisco company that picks and delivers groceries for dozens of other retailers, including Costco Wholesale Corp., Walmart Inc.'s Sam's Club, Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc.
The US delivery company currently delivers groceries for Kroger stores in 45 US markets, including Ralphs in Southern California, Mariano's in Chicago and King Soopers in Denver.
