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3-D gaming technology to help grocer compete with Tesco, Amazon.com

May 31, 2012

Video game software that was first used to portray 3-D warriors and dungeons is now helping U.K. online grocer Ocado Group Plc compete with retail giants, including Tesco.

OGRE, a software package that provides a computer-generated display of the automated processes taking place inside the company's distribution center in Hatfield, England, allows CEO Tim Steiner to monitor the imagery from an iPad, according to Bloomberg. It gives Steiner and his staff the ability to fix any errors that pop up in Ocado's distribution system.

"We used 3-D gaming technology to make the moving images realistic," Steiner told Blooberg. In fact, a mathematical model allows the software to detect if any part of the 295,000 square-foot warehouse isn't working efficiently.

Over the next 18 months, Ocado has plans to more than triple its sales to $3.1 billion by doubling its product range and adding non-food items. It is also opening its second distribution center next year.

"We are going to move from being a supermarket today to a hypermarket by the end of this year," Steiner told Bloomberg.

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