L2 Buyer – Speciality Vegetables
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Hatfield, Hertfordshire – 3 days a week in the office
Working hours: 40
Level: Mid-Level
Application closing date: Wednesday 22nd January 2025
About us
Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value.
We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading, joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket ocado.com. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind Zoom by Ocado, our same-day grocery delivery service.
About the role
We're looking for a Buyer to cover our Speciality Veg category. In this role you will be responsible for ensuring your supply base and the product range is optimised, proactively using data and analysis to maximise performance to and drive sales, profitability, and share growth to support the overall Ocado Retail strategy and goals. Working as part of the Vegetable buying team you will play an important role in delivering for the customer alongside becoming the expert in the nuances of procurement in the fresh supply chain.
Based within the Produce buying team, this role is at the forefront of delivering great value & quality on key customer essentials. Most of the category is own label products and you will be working closely with our technical teams, a few strategic supply partners as well as the M&S Buying Team. This is an ideal opportunity for a great buyer to develop their own label end to end sourcing skills.
What you’ll do
- Manage supplier performance, identifying potential new suppliers, and support to build long term supplier relationships
- Use insight tools to analyse and understand performance issues and opportunities
- Conduct regular competitor website visits and reviewing customer insight and food trends, helping shape our future product and range requirements for our customers
- Source customer/market insight-led ranges and product innovation
- Negotiate with suppliers to agree and deliver, market-leading joint business plans for your areas aligned to the customer plan & category strategy, as well as negotiating on supplier-funded media and delivering against the target
Who you are
- Experience in Produce or Fresh preferred
- Substantial experience in a buying role
- Strong negotiation skills
- Good commercial acumen
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Strong planning and organisational skills
- Communicate and influence a wide range of audiences
What’s in it for you
By joining Ocado Retail you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day and grow your skills and career in online retail.
If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:
Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance and more.
Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast everyday in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.
Never miss the moments that matter: Blended/Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere and lifestyle break opportunities.
Our Hiring Process
Lucky for us, we get loads of great applications and are stoked that so many people put the time and effort in to apply. To recognise that, we treat all applications respectfully and fairly. So, if yours stands out, you’ll follow our standard hiring process – one of our Talent Partners will talk you through this in an initial call.
Everyone’s welcome
We’re an equal opportunities employer. That means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.