Ocado Group

Early life

Timothy “Tim” Steiner was born in December 1969 and grew up in North London. After getting a degree in Economics from Manchester University, Steiner joined Goldman Sachs in 1992 as a bond trader and grew to become an accomplished banker for eight years with stints in London, Hong Kong, and New York.

Timothy “Tim” Steiner was born in December 1969 and grew up in North London. After getting a degree in Economics from Manchester University, Steiner joined Goldman Sachs in 1992 as a bond trader and grew to become an accomplished banker for eight years with stints in London, Hong Kong, and New York. While he was well-respected and had a promising career, Steiner felt he could do more. He believes that even the smallest detail can reveal a large truth about a business, leading to better efficiencies and organic growth. With this mantra, he has revolutionized and streamlined the online operations of some of the world’s leading supermarkets through Ocado.

Bringing supermarkets under one roof

Tim Steiner started Ocado Retail Limited (ORL), an online supermarket and a retail partner of Ocado Group, in 2000 under the name LM Solutions. After changing the name in 2001, the company formally started its commercial delivery service in 2002. Ocado has no chain of stores. Instead, it does home deliveries from its warehouses. These special warehouses use the Ocado Group technology hub, including automation, robotics, big data, cloud, web development, algorithms, and smart optimization. The group was built on the foundations of Ocado Retail. In 2009, the company introduced the application “Ocado on the Go” that allowed grocery shopping without a computer. Undoubtedly, the mobile app boosted customer convenience bringing in more customers. After this enormous success, Ocado listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2010. In 2014, online stores “Fetch” and “Sizzle” were launched, selling pet supplies and kitchenware, respectively. In 2015, Ocado released its software for online retail business operation named Ocado Smart Platform. The group continues to spread its wings through deals with supermarket giants like Kroger and Sobeys. On November 21st, 2019, Ocado signed up a 50/50 joint venture with Marks & Spencer.

Response to Covid-19

The pandemic caused considerable losses to many businesses globally, but Tim Steiner saw it as an opportunity. He was determined that his company’s online grocery services will help people in these challenging situations. With a rise in demand for home deliveries, Ocado witnessed increased bulk orders. The pandemic caused considerable losses to many businesses globally, but Tim Steiner saw an opportunity to help and scale the business. He was determined that his company’s online grocery services will help people in these tough situations. With a rise in demand for home deliveries, Ocado witnessed increased bulk orders. Ocado’s 2020 Annual Report showed a 35% growth in retail revenue, jumping to £2.3 billion, almost double of previous year’s £1.09 billion.

Achievements of Tim Steiner

• In 2020, Tim Steiner was recognized as joint Tech CEO of the year in the UK Tech Awards.
• Clarity Retail Leader of the Year” in 2020 by RetailWeek.
• Won the Grocer Cup for a stellar year at the online Grocer Gold Awards 2020.
• Made it to the The Sunday Times Rich List 2020, with a net worth of £403 million.

Achievements of Ocado

• Ocado won the prestigious FT-ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards for Technology 2019.
• Ocado won the Technology Hero of the Year award at the V3 Technology Awards 2017.
• Ocado chosen Best Organic Supermarket 2014 through customer polls.

Tim Steiner

Tim Steiner Tim Steiner is the co-founder and CEO of Ocado Group, a UK-based company that develops software for online grocery retailers. Tim is a former banker at Goldman Sachs, earning him the nickname “merchant banker.” Today, he is known as one of the tech-titans of the global grocery business, with Ocado making it to the FTSE 100 Index. He believes that even the smallest detail can reveal a large truth about a business, leading to better efficiencies and organic growth. With this mantra, he has revolutionized and streamlined the online operations of some of the world’s leading supermarkets through Ocado.

CEO Speak

As Ocado overtook its competitor Tesco in 2020, Tim Steiner calls his journey an ’18-year old overnight success story.’ Today, the company is the UK’s most valuable retailer, and he attributes this success to the dramatic shift in grocery shopping trends (moving from offline to online platforms). He believes bringing change in the pre-existing business is the key to success. Regarding Ocado’s growth in 2020, Steiner commented, “As we reflect on 2020, I would first and foremost like to pay tribute to the remarkable work of our team in exceptionally challenging circumstances.” He and all his management team are Ocado’s customers by choice. “It helps build a customer-centric leadership team. This is hard to achieve without understanding what the customers face and need,” he said. His experiences as an end-user, provides him a clearer picture than just statistics and reports. Ocado is looking forward to the post-vaccine situation and returning to a normal world. Tim Steiner is working on enabling grocery partners worldwide to bring out the best customer experience.