UK-based Ocado is considering cutting as many as 1,000 roles as part of a renewed drive to curb costs after a challenging year for its automated warehouse division, reported The Times.
The potential cuts would amount to approximately 5% of the company’s worldwide headcount.
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Discussions are said to be at an early stage, and no final decision has been made.
A source cited in the report said the company could make an announcement as soon as this month.
Most of the affected positions would be based at Ocado’s UK head office, including technology jobs and back-office roles across legal, finance and human resources.
The group is due to release its annual results later this month and last month reiterated its ambition to become cashflow positive in the next financial year.
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By GlobalDataIn the previous year, it disclosed plans to eliminate 500 technology and finance roles after carrying out 1,000 redundancies across the business in 2023-2024.
The business supplies robot-operated warehouse systems to supermarket chains and operates an online grocery joint venture with Marks & Spencer.
Its two major customers in North America have recently announced closures of several customer fulfilment centres.
Kroger said in November 2025 that it would shut three sites, while Canada’s Sobeys confirmed plans last month to close a facility in Calgary, citing slower-than-expected growth and the scale of the local online grocery market.
Mutual exclusivity agreements between the group and most retailers using its technology expired in December, prompting analysts to caution that recent events could complicate future partnerships.
The company expects to secure hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation linked to the warehouse closures, but it has remained loss-making since launch, with annual pre-tax losses narrowing to £374.5m ($509.88m) from £393.6m in 2024.
