Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
March 6 saw BHETA’s latest housewares forum which was headlined by Neill Abrams, Legal & Business Affairs Director of Ocado.
He was accompanied at the event by the Ocado commercial team, including Janet Wright – Head of Buying Non Food, Gillian Leahy – Buying Manager Kitchenware and Hayley Roberts Buying Manager Dining and Home.
Neill set out the history of Ocado and the thinking behind the impending launch of their new Cook & Dine website that goes live next month and the opportunities available to suppliers. The new website, branded Sizzle, sits alongside Ocado’s other specialist site: the pets business, fetch.co.uk.
With many promotional opportunities for suppliers available, Neill was keen to point out the possibilities for ‘build as you go relationships’ including those with smaller suppliers who might not be able to meet the volume requirements of some of the big supermarkets.
Established in 2000, Ocado (www.ocado.com) bills itself as one of Britain’s leading online retailers. It operates a centralised distribution model which means that it does not rely upon a network of stores from which to service customers. Orders are fulfilled at highly-automated centres before being loaded onto delivery vans.
Ocado delivers more than 36,000 product lines including big-name brands, Waitrose goods, a range of over 550 Ocado own-label products and now a growing non-food selection – including housewares.
