Become a supplier

If you operate in an EU country, you must be registered to an EU address and with your local government. In the UK, this is Environmental Health. Registering doesn’t cost anything, and you can start the process by contacting the Environmental Health Officer at your local council.

Packaging needs to be robust enough to withstand our picking process, this is especially important if the contents are liquid or fragile. It also needs a barcode and to comply with UK Regulations (feature ‘use-by’ dates, allergen and nutritional information). Extensive information is available on the Food Standards Agency website.

If a food business believes their product is unsafe, they’re legally obliged to withdraw it from sale and inform customers the reason for recall. A product recall plan details how you will manage this process. It should include an email and telephone number where you, or a senior member of your team can be contacted on a 24/7 basis.

We accept accreditation from the British Retail Consortium (BRCGS) or Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) equivalent accreditation. In addition, we also accept Safe And Local Supplier Approval (SALSA) or BRC START.

Yes – we have a weight restriction of 15kg, and product dimensions must be under 534mm x 334mm x 340mm.

We’re the world’s largest dedicated online grocery supermarket. We’re powered by a unique fulfilment and logistics machine – everything we do is designed to give customers the best service possible. Our suppliers deliver directly to our Customer Fulfillment Centres, where products can be put away, packed, and sent out to customers in as little as five hours. We’ve got a short supply chain and rapid turnover, which helps us offer customers a freshness guarantee.

A number of things might affect minimum order quantities, such as the temperature your product needs to be kept at, or the anticipated rate of sale. We will order initial product quantities in either cases or layers, depending on your product. We’re unable to accept initial orders in pallet quantities.

If your application is successful, your Buyer will discuss this with you during the ranging process.

Right now, we’re delivering to over 80% of the UK population through four distribution centres, or Customer Fulfillment Centres, as we call them. These are in Hatfield, Dordon, Andover, Erith, Purfleet, Bristol, Bicester.

If your products are chilled or frozen, then you will need temperature controlled distribution. If you don’t have suitable delivery equipment, then once your application is accepted your supply chain contact can give you a list of recommended hauliers.

If your application is successful and you’re unable to organise your own suitable transport, we have a network of vehicles that can collect products as an alternative to delivering directly to us. Frozen suppliers can choose to work with Lineage; ambient suppliers can contact ocadoprimary@ocado.com – which allows deliveries to central points in Bedford and Welwyn Garden City. Feel free to discuss your options once a Buyer has gotten in touch with you.

If your application is successful, we’ll need samples prior to selling your product so we can weigh and measure them. We do this to make sure our systems have the correct information so we can optimise packing totes and vans, and storing in our CFCs.

Special offers are a strong incentive for customers to try something new; remember, online customers can’t touch, smell or compare products like they can in store. Also, each customer sees a different version of the website according to their buying habits. This means that they see products in a different order too. Promotions put products higher up the assortment and give your brand increased visibility.

This depends on lots of things, such as your category, what your competitors are doing, and the retail price of your product. Doing a spot of research online is always a good idea, but a good rule of thumb is to mix reduction promotions (e.g. Save 25%) and multibuys (e.g. 3 for 2).

The art of successful promotions can vary from one category to the next. Head to ocado.com and take a look at the competition in your category – it will give you an idea of where to start. If your application is accepted, your Buyer will happily advise on what they think will work best for you.

There are lots of marketing opportunities available. We offer targeted sampling campaigns, graphic banners on relevant product pages, social media, features in our customer magazine, Ocadolife, and more. If your application is accepted, your Buyer will provide you with an information pack, and help you decide what will work best for your brand.

Of course, chat to your Buyer about getting access to Beet – our inhouse database that contains all transactional customer insights.

Brandbank manages digital brand content. If your application is successful, we will ask you to subscribe to Brandbank and upload this information before you can go live on ocado.com. It hosts product information (or ‘back of pack’ as we call it) and high resolution imagery. This is really important for selling your products online, where customers want to see as much information as possible.