What Do Buyers Really Want? Behind the Shelves of Ocado with Lucy Silver

Few people see as much of the UK food industry as Lucy Silver. Over 20 years across Tesco, Compleat Group, and now Ocado, she has navigated every twist and turn of supermarket buying, from spotting products that soar off shelves to recognising one that will flop. Lucy has built her career on understanding what works in retail, what founders often overlook, and how the buyer-supplier relationship truly functions. In this episode, Lucy brings us behind the scene of Ocado. She shares exactly what buyers are looking for, the mistakes that can get a brand rejected in an instant, and why face-to-face conversations remain the fastest way to get noticed. For any founder trying to get a food or drink product into supermarkets, Lucy’s insights are an essential guide to understanding the gatekeepers of the industry, and how to win them over.