Bother

Bother is a London-based online retailer and smartphone app that sells non-perishable household essentials, including store-cupboard food, drinks and alcohol, laundry and household cleaning products, toiletries and health items, baby and child supplies, and pet essentials. Rather than competing on delivery speed, the company focuses on replenishment: it aims to resupply households before items run out, and does not require a subscription or make product substitutions. Orders are delivered by DPD, usually next day, with free delivery on baskets over £50, and many items are offered in large or bulk sizes.

The product is built around an AI system the company calls the "Bother Brain", which learns which items a customer buys and estimates when they are likely to run low, then pre-populates recommendations or a basket that the customer approves. Customers access these recommendations through a "Box Builder" section of the site and app. The assortment mixes mainstream FMCG brands (for example Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Heinz, Kellogg's, Persil, Finish, Lenor and Fairy) with lower-impact alternatives such as Ecover and Method, so shoppers can choose between conventional and eco-oriented options in the same category.

Sustainability positioning is central to the offer. Bother is a certified B Corp and states that it has a net zero carbon footprint extending across its supply chain, and claims that shopping with it can reduce an average UK household's carbon footprint by 2.5 percent. It plants a tree for every order through a partnership with Ecologi and donates a share of revenue from each box to The Trussell Trust, a UK food bank charity.