Kroger Avoiding AWS In Its Cloud Transition

So, what’s new? AWS may be the gold standard in cloud services, but companies like Kroger have no qualms about avoiding the platform at all, and go with alternates like Microsoft and Google.

The reason is the relentless push of its parent company, Amazon, into nearly every sector of the economy. Case in point the Whole Foods acquisition that was enough to make some companies think twice about using Amazon Web Services.

Giants like Walmart and Target were quick to distance themselves from AWS, and now we know that Kroger is also avoiding the AWS platform for its cloud transition.

Known for brands like QFC and Fred Meyer, Kroger is a retail supermarket and grocery giant that has made the conscious decision to spend money with AWS competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform as it drags its sprawling IT operation into the cloud.

This was revealed by CIO Chris Hjlem, who said that the cloud push started last year before Amazon bought Whole Foods. But now that Amazon is directly competing with Kroger on multiple fronts, all new cloud projects are going to Azure and Google Cloud:

“We feel like we’re not losing anything from a competitive perspective working with those companies.”

While some businesses that Kroger has acquired still rely on AWS for a few things, and the company still maintains its own datacenters for some workloads, the grocer is doing all it can to distance itself from Amazon Web Services.

It joins a number of other companies with the sentiment that there is no reason to continue bankrolling the AWS operation, which provides nearly all of the operating profit for Amazon.

These moves may not really affect AWS revenue all that much, which reported a 42% jump in revenue during the third quarter, but they are certainly bolstering the competition that itself has been growing at a breezy pace this past year or so.