Would you buy shares in Ocado?

Ocado is part of the new congenial gang of companies. It has the same lively fresh image, emphasis on eco credentials and friendly customer service that has seen drinks maker Innocent and sandwich chain Pret prosper, and which mega corps like McDonalds have tried and failed to ape.

But behind this exterior lies a multi-award winning company set up by three Goldman Sachs bankers – yes graduates of the ‘giant vampire squid’ no less. It can count former US vice-president Al Gore and Procter & Gamble among those who have participated in previous fundraisings.

Yet for all its glowing credentials, Ocado has not made a pre-tax profit - not something chief executive Tim Steiner shared with customers in an email to regular Ocado shoppers this week offering them a piece of a potential stock market floatation. Should Ocado decide to float, Steiner said, ‘we would like to offer Ocado customers who have spent over £300 with us in the period from 1 January 2010 to the time of announcement the opportunity to buy shares in the flotation’.

No need to do anything right now, Steiner wrote, the company is waiting for the right moment to make a move.

The right moment might not be forthcoming – several big flotations have been dropped in recent months. These include travel bookings group Travelport, Merlin Entertainments, the business behind the London Eye, Legoland and Alton Towers, and fashion chain New Look which blamed the ‘unfavourable market backdrop’.

Chris Blackhurst of the Evening Standard nicely sums up the hurdles Ocado faces here.

So is the group’s offer a cunning ploy to reel in some of its enamoured – yet not necessarily investment-savvy – customers? Perhaps it will entice people who don’t normally buy shares, but see a smoothly running operation and think they have a rare chance to make a buck on a dead cert.

If you don’t normally invest in shares, could Ocado convince you?

Or is the firm too unproven and therefore too high risk to take a punt on?

Is Ocado's service as good as everyone claims? Or can you find better service and prices elsewhere?