OCADO shares surged by more than a third yesterday after news the retailer had inked a partnership deal with South Korea's Lotte Shopping.

The London-listed tech firm said it had agreed plans for the development of a national fulfilment network, pushing shares up as much as 38 per cent when trading closed yesterday.

While the boost will come as welcome news for the retailer, which has been hit by a slowdown in online consumer spending since Covid-19 lockdowns, Ocado shares remain some 63 per cent down on the year.

Lotte Group is one of South Korea's largest business conglomerates and cashes in a total revenue worth £45bn annually, including from its department and e-commerce operator arm Lotte Shopping.

Ocado and Lotte will launch a net- work of customer fulfilment centres, with six planned by 2028.

The first centre is scheduled to launch in 2025, while in-store fulfilment software will be rolled out in 2024.

The firm, which is a joint venture between Ocado and supermarket heavyweight Marks and Spencer, will see its 'Smart Platform' and in-store fulfilment solution launched across Lotte stores.

"With this new partnership, our unique, proprietary technology will now power the online businesses of twelve major retailers across ten countries worldwide," Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado Group, explained yesterday morning.

Lotte is to pay Ocado Solutions some fees upfront and during a development phase. It will then pay the British firm continuing fees associated with both sales and installed capacity across Lotte's estate.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper