Glossary

Ambient

A reference to the temperature your product(s) needs to be stored at. In this case, room temperature.

BOP/Back of pack

Product information you’d usually find on packaging, like product description and nutritional information. Some suppliers like to include extra information, such as other products in the range, or awards they’ve won.

Brandbank

A digital content management platform which makes sure your product images and information are readily available.

CFC

Customer Fulfilment Centre. This is what we call our warehouses, and is where suppliers deliver products, so we can pick, pack and deliver them to customers. Other businesses might call this a distribution centre – but we think they’re so much more that that.

Chilled

This is a reference to the temperature your product(s) needs to be stored at. In this case, refrigerated but not frozen.

FIR

This stands for Food Information Regulation and is the European legislation governing what information needs to be displayed on food products. It includes nutritional and allergy information, as well as use-by and sell-by dates. More information is available on the Food Standards Agency website.

Frozen

This is a reference to the temperature your product(s) needs to be stored at. In this case, in the freezer.

HACCP

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, a Food Standards Agency approved system which helps food businesses ensure the food they make or serve is safe to eat.

Haulier

A third-party who will transport products on your behalf to our Customer Fulfillment Centres.

Media/Media plans

When Buyers refer to media, they’re talking about advertising on the website – banners, featured products, that sort of thing. Media plans are a bit like promotional plans – it’s an agreement between Buyers and suppliers about brand advertising on our website.

Pick face

Your product location in our Customer Fulfillment Centres. Products sit in pick faces whilst waiting to be picked by our Personal Shoppers.

Product recall plan

Any plan that Ocado agrees with you in the event it is necessary to issue a product recall.

Promos/Promotions

Special offers, discounts. Here’s a list of common mechanics:

Link deal e.g. Buy 3 packs of eggs, get egg cup free.

Multibuy e.g. Buy 1, Add 1 Free.

Reduction promo e.g. Half Price, Save 1/3, or £1 off.

Promotional plan

An overview of the special offers and marketing activity you plan to run with us throughout the year.

Quickview

When you’re browsing our site and you click on a product, a small window will pop up showing a brief overview of the product, including image, name, price and description. This is the quickview. You can click through to see more detailed product information – we call this the back of pack (BOP).

Retail-ready

This covers businesses and products. Retail-ready businesses are able to deliver products to our Customer Fulfillment Centres in appropriate vehicles – temperature-controlled if required – on pallets and in robust packaging. Retail-ready products have barcodes and date code information – ‘use-by’ and ‘sell-by’ dates, which are compliant with EU/UK legislation. Find out more in our legal stuff section above.

SKU number

Eight or nine digit number we use to identify each product. Why? Well, long descriptions don’t work very well in Excel, or in algorithms.

Tote

The container used for storage in the CFCs and delivery to customers of products. All products have to fit within a tote without exception (max. 15kg and under 534mm x 334mm x 340mm).

Weights & measures

Our process of weighing and measuring each product, and loading that information onto our systems so we’re able to optimise efficient use of our CFCs, totes and vans.