LONDON, United Kingdom —
EBay, online grocer
Ocado and five other firms that do business in the United Kingdom were honored with
OnLine Green Retail Awards (OLGAs) in recent ceremonies at London's Kensington Roof Gardens.
EBay, the ubiquitous online marketplace, took top honors in the Panel Award Winners division by receiving the OLGA Grand Prix. In announcing the awards on July 24, event organizer
Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) said that EBay's business model for the sales of used goods could be "seen as the ultimate in recycling."
Based in San Jose, Calif., EBay bills itself as the largest online marketplace in the United States and the world with some 84 million active users worldwide and more than 14 million active
users in the U.K.
Independent online grocer Ocado received OLGA's Large Retailer prize in the contest's Consumer Award Winners division. IMRG lauded Ocado for its "pioneering work in delivery and grocery bag recycling."
Ocado traces its roots eight years back to a single rented room in London and launched on a somewhat larger scale in 2002. It now estimates its total deliveries since 2002 at more than 8 million, delivers an average of 12,000 orders daily and maintains a 23-acre, fulfillment center in Hatfield, about 20 miles north of London.
The centralized operation allows the firm to optimize deliveries, said Ocado, whose van drivers collect used grocery bags from customers and return the bags to the company. The bags are designed to biodegrade within a year of disposal.
Other winners in the second annual competition included
Celtic Sheepskin of Cornwall;
Kelkoo, the U.K.'s popular e-commerce comparison shopping site; the
Home Delivery Network, the U.K.'s largest carrier service which handles 300,000 packages a day;
Dixons.co.uk, which specializes in home electronics and appliances, and
Arena Flowers.
