Ocado, the home shopping business in which retailer John Lewis is a stakeholder, is to push into new categories including babywear and flowers.

So far, Ocado has specialised in food, offering 12,500 lines from John Lewis-owned grocer Waitrose.

It now intends to bolster its range and eventually provide shoppers with “everything they can find in a giant supermarket”, Ocado co-founder Jonathan Faiman told the Evening Standard.

New lines will initially be supplied by John Lewis and additional suppliers may come on board in future as more categories are added.

Faiman said Ocado’s offer was too limited and range extensions would fuel growth. “We are constrained, so we are very excited about growing the range into areas such as health and beauty and babywear. That is a huge opportunity for us,” he said.

John Lewis has a 28 per cent share in Ocado, which broke even for the first time last autumn. The retailer expects to post a pre-tax profit by the end of next year.