NEWS FROM OCADO

Window Shopping...
Online supermarket Ocado hits the high street with pioneering new ‘shop’



November 04, 2011 OCADO, the award-winning online supermarket, has moved from computer screens to shop windows by taking residence on the high street this month with an innovative experiment in virtual shopping at Bristol’s Cabot Circus. It follows the arrival of Ocado’s great value, great quality delivery service to Bristol (and parts of South Wales and the South West) in March.

Live between November 4 and 10, Ocado’s integrated window display will let Bristolians purchase all their grocery essentials, and a few indulgent treats, on their mobile phones; all to be delivered direct to their kitchen table.

Ocado’s virtual shopping wall will offer household essentials ranging from tea bags and toilet rolls to pasta and potatoes – branded goods and quality Waitrose products alongside those from its fast-growing Ocado range; not to mention tasty treats from Ocado’s newly-stocked Reflets de France and Daylesford Organic ranges.

The Ocado virtual store at Unit 16 of Cabot Circus, between Ernest Jones and Wallis on Concorde Street, will be accessible 24 hours a day with customers able to shop in a few easy steps:

1. If you don’t have it already, download the Ocado On The Go app from the App Store or Android Market
2. Open the app and press the barcode symbol in the top right of your screen
3. Hold the camera screen over the barcode of a product until it recognises it
4. When the product appears on your screen, press ‘add’ to put it in your basket
5. Keep on shopping and then check out!

The online supermarket first hit the high street this August at the One New Change shopping centre in central London. It was the first time that Ocado, a strictly online business, had migrated from the internet to bricks and mortar. However, being a leader in online grocery retail - introducing the world’s first supermarket shopping mobile application on iPhone in 2009 and now, this month, launching onto Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 handsets - the company stuck to its digital technology roots with a distinctive spin on the future of high street shopping.

As of this October, mobile devices were used in a staggering 18.6 per cent of Ocado checkouts; an ever-increasing number of customers now regularly shop via the award-winning Ocado On The Go app.

Jason Gissing, Ocado co-founder, said: “Taking the virtual window shopping experience to Bristol is a natural move for Ocado, following a successful trial of this bold venture in London.

“Bristol is the perfect choice because, as of March, we started making our first deliveries here, and to people in the surrounding areas. The response since we arrived has been great. We hope that our loyal customers, and a few new faces, are just as excited to browse our innovative shop front, as we were to create it.”

Head down to Cabot Circus, Bristol from November 4 until the end of the week geared with your mobile phone to trial this unique window shopping experience.

-Ends-

For further information contact:

Estelle Boon, Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 6959 Email: estelleboon@frankpr.it
Francesca Hall, Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 6983 Email: francescahall@frankpr.it
Rochelle Collison, Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 7496 Email: rochellecollison@frankpr.it

Notes to Editors:

About Ocado:
Ocado (www.ocado.com) was established in 2000, started trading in 2002 and is now one of Britain’s leading online supermarkets. Ocado 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 a unique, high-automated Customer Fulfilment Centre in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, before being loaded onto delivery vans making local routes, or transported by HGV to vans stationed at a network of regional UK distribution spokes. Ocado delivers over 21,000 product lines including Waitrose goods and a growing Ocado own-label range. Last October it was named World E-tailer of the Year at the prestigious World Retail Awards and, earlier this year, won Consumer Initiative of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards for its popular mobile commerce platform.