Buying & Commercial Graduate Scheme 2025

Buying & Commercial Graduate Scheme 2025

Contract type: Permanent

Scheme Start Date: September 2025

Location: Hatfield (Blended working - 2-3 days in the office)

Working hours per week: 40 hours

Level: Entry Level - Graduate

Application Opening Date: Monday 28th October

Application Closing Date: Sunday 17th November

To read more about Ocado Retail and our Graduate schemes, visit our Careers Page!

 

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. 

Buying at Ocado Retail

The buying team is responsible for putting the customer at the heart of everything we do, truly living and breathing what our customers want to see when they shop with us!

Our team of buyers curates their ranges to deliver the unique customer experience gleaned from the largest range in the industry. They analyse consumer buying patterns, predict future trends, and work alongside our suppliers to maximize our offering to our customers. All of this is coupled with regularly reviewing performance indicators and profitability to manage the performance of their categories.

No day is the same as our buyers continually work to ensure we offer the right products, at the right time in the right place!

The end goal is that you will be provided with the support and training to reach Level 1 Buyer at the end of your 24-month scheme within the Buying Function or wider business.

What you’ll do

• The 24-month buying scheme consists of rotations across our buying and commercial  division
• Within each rotation, you’ll be an integral part of the team, delivering a project and developing your skills to be a strong commercial buyer 
• You will be negotiating with suppliers, finding amazing products to stock on Ocado, and making sure we offer our customers fair value while you do it
• In your buying placement, you will learn from our expert buyers whilst having the responsibility to drive your own category with the support of your line manager
• We’ll give you a strong foundation in the skills you need to become a buyer including negotiation, category management, data analytics and e-commerce training 

Who you are

• Someone who is passionate about understanding market trends and customer preferences to position Ocado as the UK’s best online supermarket 
• Analytical, and data-driven individuals who can network and build relationships internally, and with suppliers to deliver the best results for our customers 
• Someone who is good at generating ideas and thinking innovatively to deliver commercial objectives of sales, profitability, and share growth 
• Someone who likes to negotiate to get a great deal, and feels confident having the occasional difficult conversation to get the best outcome for our customers
• Someone who is excited about working in retail
• Someone who loves great products and finding the next innovation in food or household goods 
• Someone who is good at thinking on their feet and not afraid to challenge constructively

Expectations During and After the Scheme

• An open mind and willingness to learn new skills
• Demonstrating an interest in retail and customer behaviours 
• Taking time to build strong relationships both within Ocado and with suppliers 
• Proactively seeking out new ideas to drive the category you’ll be looking out for forwards

What You Need To Apply

• CV & Cover Letter - Why Ocado Retail? Why this scheme? What do you hope to achieve/gain?
• Excel skills are an advantage
• Graduate with a 2.2 or above from an accredited UK University
• The legal right to work in the United Kingdom upon scheme commencement and duration of the scheme
  
   

When will you hear from us?

We love that we get loads of amazing applications for our graduate schemes. To recognise that, we aim to keep you informed throughout the process.

To start with, we’ll take a look through each application and whether successful or not, we’ll let you know. Applications will close on Sunday 17th November 2024. Our aim to be in touch with anyone who’s applied within 2 weeks of that date.

After that, we’ll keep you informed between each stage. Given how many great applications we get, it can take some time, so please bear with us in between updates.

We treat all applications respectfully and fairly so unfortunately, if you miss the closing date we won't be able to make exceptions to extend stages. This wouldn't be fair to those candidates who have completed them!

How will we contact you?

Email, so make sure you’ve added careers@ocadoretail.com to your safe senders.

Our Learning & Development Promise

There are great opportunities to grow careers within our high-performing and innovative business. These range from deepening your experience and expertise to potentially taking on management responsibility or even pivoting your career to do something completely different. 

Our career management principles exist to help the realisation of career ambitions, whatever they might be.

Driven by you

You are in the driving seat of your career. We all have a responsibility to do the things that can help move our careers forward. That could mean completing some learning, using our career stories to understand how your colleagues have got to where they are today, or applying for a new role.

Supported by your manager

You should feel that you can have open and productive conversations with your manager about your career and development. They are there to coach you, act as a mentor, signpost opportunities and be an advocate for you within the business.

Backed by ORL

We are committed to ensuring that the right tools are there for you. Our learning system ‘Walnut’ is your one-stop shop for all your learning needs. 

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 the 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 every day 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 an extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere, and lifestyle break opportunities. 

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.