Ocado Retail has launched a dedicated aisle on its website solely for products from female-founded brands.
The ‘Buy Women Built’ aisle features more than 1,000 products from 130 female-founded brands, including emerging brands such as Bold Bean Co, Pimentae and Hunter & Gather and household names like Pip & Nut, Little Moons and Biotiful.
The aisle covers four categories: food and beverage, health and beauty, home care & cleaning and kids. The backstories of several founders will also feature on the site, “giving customers a deeper understanding of the people behind the products they’re buying” the online pureplay supermarket said.
“With the largest range of products than any other supermarket, we’re often the first to give new brands a foot in the door with their first retail listing,” said Hannah Gibson, CEO of Ocado Retail. “I know how important it is to support female entrepreneurs, especially those who are just starting out, and create a space where female-led businesses can thrive.”
The retailer partnered with consumer campaign Buy Women Built – which works to “shine a light on female founders brands, showing who they are and why buying from them creates a stronger, fairer economy, inspiring future generations of women” – on what it claimed to be a first for the a major UK supermarket.
“By collaborating with Buy Women Built, we’ve been able to curate an amazing selection of products from inspiring brands, and support a movement that helps nurture female entrepreneurship,” Gibson added.
Recent research undertaken by Ocado Retail and Savanta revealed growing demand for products from female-founded businesses. Polling among more than 2,000 consumers found 51% would shop more female-founded brands if they were clearly signposted and 64% believe buying from female-founded businesses helps promote diversity in the business world, with the same proportion saying they believed it important to champion female-founded businesses to help inspire more women. Some 61% said they feel like they are directly supporting gender equality by purchasing from female-founded brands
Separate research by Natwest, a partner of Buy Women Built, found only 1% of all-female teams receive venture capital investment and if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, £250bn of new value could be added to the UK economy.
“The dedicated Buy Women Built aisle at Ocado represents a powerful step towards fostering a more inclusive and innovative marketplace,” said Sahar Hashemi, founder of Buy Women Built. “It’s not just a convenient way to find products – it’s a statement of support for female-founded brands. By creating this aisle, Ocado is giving consumers a tangible way to back female founders and make a difference with every purchase.
“This aisle is more than a collection of exceptional products; it’s about showcasing the innovative solutions women are creating through their brands by solving their own real-world challenges; deeply aligning with customer needs. Every item in this aisle tells the story of a woman entrepreneur breaking barriers, and with each purchase, we are not only helping to create a stronger economy but also inspiring the next generation of young girls to dream bigger.”
It March, Ocado claimed to have launched the biggest Buy British shopping aisle of any UK supermarket, following the launch of an 800-item Best of British aisle. The online grocer said that unlike other supermarket British aisles, which could include products manufactured in the UK with ingredients from around the world, Ocado’s aisle “exclusively features products both grown and produced locally”.
Ocado’s new female founders aisle can be found on both ocado.com, and its rapid delivery service Zoom by Ocado by searching ‘buy women built’ in the search bar.
The inclusion of Bold Bean Co in the aisle “feels like a pivotal moment” for the brand, said its founder Amelia Christie-Miller.
“It’s not just about reaching a broader audience but about amplifying a movement that supports women-led businesses,” she said. “Consumers have the power to drive change simply by choosing brands that share their values, and through this collaboration, we’re able to make that choice easier and more impactful.”
No comments yet