J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...
s in the United Kingdom,
with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by
John James Sainsbury with a shop in
Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK retailer of
groceries for most of the 20th century. In 1995,
Tesco became the market leader when it overtook Sainsbury's, which has since been ranked second or third: it was overtaken by
Asda from 2003 to 2014, and again in 2019.
In 2018, a planned merger with Asda was blocked by the
Competition and Markets Authority over concerns of increased prices for consumers.
The holding company, J Sainsbury plc, is split into three divisions: Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd (
including convenience shops),
Sainsbury's Bank, and
Argos. As of 2021, the largest overall shareholder is the
sovereign wealth fund of
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
, the
Qatar Investment Authority, which holds 14.99% of the company. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and is a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index.
History
Origin and growth (1869–1955)
Sainsbury's was established as a partnership in 1869, when
John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann opened a shop at 173 Drury Lane in Covent Garden, London. Sainsbury started as a retailer of fresh foods and later expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and sugar. His trading philosophy, as stated on a sign outside his first shop was: "Quality perfect, prices lower".
Shops started to look similar, so a high cast-iron 'J. SAINSBURY' sign featured on every London shop so that it could be recognised from a distance, and round-the-back deliveries started to add extra convenience and not upset rivals due to Sainsbury's popularity.
In 1922, J Sainsbury was incorporated as the private company 'J. Sainsbury Limited'.
Groceries were introduced in 1903, when John James purchased a grocer's branch at 12 Kingsland High Street,
Dalston. Every shop offered home delivery, as there were fewer cars in those days. Sites were carefully chosen, with a central position in a parade selected in preference to a corner shop. This allowed a larger display of products, which could be kept cooler in summer, which was important as there was no refrigeration.
By the time John James Sainsbury died in 1928, there were over 128 shops. He was replaced by his eldest son, John Benjamin Sainsbury, who had gone into partnership with his father in 1915.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the company continued to refine its product offerings and maintain its leadership in terms of shop design, convenience, and cleanliness. The company acquired the Midlands-based Thoroughgood chain in 1936.
The founder's grandsons Alan Sainsbury (later
Lord Sainsbury of Drury Lane) and
Sir Robert Sainsbury became joint managing directors in 1938, after their father, John Benjamin Sainsbury, had a minor heart attack.
In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, many of the men who worked for Sainsbury's were called to perform National Service and were replaced by women. The war was a difficult time for Sainsbury's, as most of its shops were trading in the London area and were bombed or damaged. Turnover fell to half the prewar level. Food was rationed, and one particular shop in
East Grinstead was so badly damaged on Friday 9 July 1943 that it had to move to the local church, temporarily, while a new one was built. This shop was not completed until 1951.
Self-service and heyday (1956–1991)
In 1956, Alan Sainsbury became chairman after the death of his father, John Benjamin Sainsbury.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Sainsbury's was a keen early adopter of self-service supermarkets in the United Kingdom. On a trip to the United States, Alan Sainsbury realised the benefits of self-service shops and believed the future of Sainsbury's was self-service supermarkets of , with eventually the added bonus of a car park for extra convenience. The first self-service branch opened in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...
in 1950.
Sainsbury's was a pioneer in the development of own-brand goods; the aim was to offer products that matched the quality of nationally branded goods but at a lower price. It expanded more cautiously than
Tesco, shunning acquisitions, and it never offered
trading stamps.
Until the company went public on 12 July 1973, as J Sainsbury plc, the company was wholly owned by the Sainsbury family. It was at the time the largest ever flotation on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
; the company rewarded the smaller bids for shares in order to create as many shareholders as possible. A million shares were set aside for staff, which led to many staff members buying shares that shot up in value. Within one minute the list of applications was closed: £495 million had been offered for £14.5 million available shares. The Sainsbury family at the time retained 85% of the firm's shares.
Most of the senior positions were held by family members. John Davan Sainsbury (later
Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover), a member of the fourth generation of the founding family, took over the chairmanship from his uncle
Sir Robert Sainsbury in 1969, who had been chairman for two years from 1967 following Alan Sainsbury's retirement.
Sainsbury's started to replace its High Street shops with self-service supermarkets above , which were either in out of town locations or in regenerated town centres. Sainsbury's policy was to invest in uniform, well designed shops with a strong emphasis on quality; its slogan was "good food costs less at Sainsbury's". During the 1970s, the average size of Sainsbury's shops rose from to around ; the first edge of town shop, with of selling space, was opened at Coldhams Lane in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
in 1974. The last counter service branch closed in
Peckham in 1982. To participate in the
hypermarket
A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, includin ...
sector, Sainsbury's formed a joint venture, known as
SavaCentre, with
British Home Stores. The first SavaCentre shop was opened in
Washington, Tyne and Wear, in 1977; nearly half the space, amounting to some , was devoted to textiles, electrical goods and hardware. As the hypermarket format became more mainstream, with rivals such as
Asda and Tesco launching ever larger shops, it was decided that a separate brand was no longer needed, and the shops were converted to the regular Sainsbury's supershop format in September 1999.
Sainsbury's diversified further in 1979, forming a joint venture with the Belgian retailer, GB-Inno-BM, to set up a chain of do-it-yourself shops under the
Homebase name. Sainsbury's also trebled the size of its Homebase do it yourself business during 1996, by merging its business with
Texas Homecare, which it acquired in January 1995 from Ladbroke for £290 million. Sainsbury's sold the Homebase chain in December 2000, in a twofold deal worth
£969 million. Sales of the stores to
Schroder Ventures
Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, S ...
generated £750 million and sale of 28 development sites, which had been earmarked for future Homebase shops, were sold for £219 million to rival B&Q's parent company,
Kingfisher plc
Kingfisher plc is a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England.
It has over 1,300 stores in nine countries, and its brands include B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix. Kingfisher is listed on the London ...
. During the 1980s, the company invested in new technology: the proportion of sales passing through EPOS scanning checkouts rose from 1% to 90%.
In November 1983, Sainsbury's purchased 21% of
Shaw's Supermarkets, the second largest retailer of groceries in the northeastern United States (primarily in New England). In June 1987, Sainsbury's acquired the rest of the company.
In 1985, the chairman reported that over the preceding 10 years profits had grown from £15 million to over £168 million, a compound annual rise of 30.4% – after allowing for inflation a real annual growth rate of 17.6%.
In 1991, the Sainsbury's group boasted a twelve-year record of dividend increases, of 20% or more and earnings per share had risen by as much for nearly as long.
Also in 1991, the company raised £489 million, in new equity to fund the expansion of supershops.
With the advent of out of town shopping complexes during the 1980s, Sainsbury's was one of the many big retail names to open new shops in such complexes – notably with its shop at the
Meadowhall Shopping Centre,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...
(originally as a SavaCentre) in 1990, and the
Merry Hill Shopping Centre at
Brierley Hill in the
West Midlands, which opened in September 1989.
Sainsbury's expanded into Scotland in 1992 with a shop in
Darnley (the SavaCentre at
Cameron Toll
Cameron Toll is a suburb located to the south of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Originally it was the site of a toll house built in the early 19th century, which was located on a stretch of road between Edinburgh and Dalkeith. The meaning of the name ...
in Edinburgh had opened in 1984). In June 1995, Sainsbury's announced its intention to move into the Northern Ireland market, until that point dominated by local companies. Between December 1996 and December 1998, the company opened seven shops. Two others at
Sprucefield
Sprucefield is a major out-of-town retail park in the townland of Magherageery, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the southern edge of Lisburn; about one mile from Lisburn city centre, and from central Belfast. Sprucefield is located bes ...
, Lisburn, and
Holywood Exchange, Belfast would not open until 2003, due to protracted legal challenges. While Sainsbury's outlets in Northern Ireland were all new developments, Tesco (apart from one Tesco Metro) instead purchased existing chains from
Associated British Foods
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major ...
(see
Tesco Ireland
Tesco Ireland is the Irish subsidiary of supermarket group Tesco. Tesco Ireland was formed by Tesco plc's 1997 purchase of the Irish retailing operations of Associated British Foods, namely Powers' Supermarkets Limited and its subsidiaries, tra ...
).
Decline (1992–1998)
In 1992, the long time CEO
John Davan Sainsbury retired, and was succeeded as chairman and chief executive by his cousin, David Sainsbury (later
Lord Sainsbury of Turville); this brought about a change in management style – David was more consensual and less hierarchical, but not in strategy or in corporate beliefs about the company's place in the market.
Mistakes by David Sainsbury and his successors, Dino Adriano and
Peter Davis, included the rejection of loyalty cards, the reluctance to move into non-food retailing, the indecision between whether to go for quality or for value, "the sometimes brutal treatment of suppliers" which led to suppliers favouring Tesco over Sainsbury's, and an unsuccessful advertising campaign fronted by
John Cleese.
At the end of 1993, it announced price cuts on three hundred of its most popular own label lines. Significantly, this came three months after Tesco had launched its line ''Tesco Value''.
A few months later, Sainsbury's announced that margins had fallen, that the pace of new supershops construction would slow down, and that it would write down the value of some of its properties.
In 1994, Sainsbury's announced a new town centre format, Sainsbury's Central, again a response to Tesco's Metro, which was already established in five locations.
Also in 1994, Sainsbury's lost the takeover battle for
William Low
William Low (popularly referred to as Willie Low's; latterly marketed as Wm Low) was a chain of supermarkets based in Dundee, Scotland, until it was bought out by Tesco for £257M in 1994.
As a group it was smaller than most of its competitors ...
(like Tesco, Sainsbury's had long been under-represented in Scotland). Also that year, David Sainsbury dismissed Tesco's clubcard initiative as 'an electronic version of
Green Shield Stamps'; the company was soon forced to backtrack, introducing its own reward card eighteen months later.
For much of the 20th century, Sainsbury's had been the market leader in the supermarket sector in the United Kingdom, but in 1995, it lost this position to Tesco. Some new ventures were successful, notably the launch of a retail bank,
Sainsbury's Bank, in partnership with
Bank of Scotland.
In addition to Shaw's, Sainsbury's bought a minority stake in another supermarket group, Giant Food, based in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
, although this shareholding was subsequently sold when
Ahold of the Netherlands made a full bid for the company.
An arrangement in late 1995 with
Supermarket Direct made Sainsbury's the first major grocery retailer in the UK to offer a home delivery service.
In May 1996, the company reported its first fall in profits for 22 years. David Sainsbury announced management changes, involving the appointment of two chief executives, one in charge of supermarkets within the United Kingdom (Dino Adriano) and the other responsible for Homebase, and the United States (David Bremner). Finally, in 1998, David Sainsbury himself resigned from the company to pursue a career in politics. He was succeeded as non executive chairman by George Bull, who had been chairman of
Diageo
Diageo plc () is a multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweichow Moutai of China in 201 ...
, and Adriano was promoted to be Group Chief Executive.
Brand relaunch (1999–2003)
In June 1999, Sainsbury's unveiled its new
corporate identity. This was developed by
M&C Saatchi
M&C Saatchi Group () is an international communications network headquartered in London, formed in May 1995. With more than 2,400 staff, the network spans 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, US, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Austral ...
, and included
*the current company logo,
*new corporate colours of "living orange" and blue,
*
Interstate as the company's new general use lowercase font, replacing the old all uppercase font, and
*the new
slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...
"Making life taste better", which replaced its old slogan from the 1960s,
* and new staff uniforms.
The strapline was dropped in May 2005, and replaced in September of that year by "Try something new today." This new brand statement was created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. While the Interstate font was used almost exclusively for many years, the company introduced another informal font in 2005, which is used in a wide range of advertising and literature.
In 1999, Sainsbury's acquired an 80.1% share of Egyptian Distribution Group SAE, a retailer in Egypt with one hundred shops and 2,000 employees. However, poor profitability led to the sale of this share in April 2001. On 8 October 1999, the CEO Dino Adriano lost control of the core supermarket business within the United Kingdom, instead assuming responsibility for the rest of the group. David Bremner became head of the supermarkets in the United Kingdom. This was "derided" by the city and described as a "fudge".
On 14 January 2000 Sainsbury's reversed this decision by announcing the replacement of Adriano by Sir Peter Davis effective from March.
Davis was CEO between 2000 and 2004, with his appointment well received by investors and analysts.
In his first two years, he exceeded profit targets, although by 2004 the group had suffered a decline in performance relative to its competitors and was demoted to third in the groceries market within the United Kingdom. Davis also oversaw an almost £3 billion upgrade of shops, distribution and IT equipment, entitled 'Business Transformation Programme', but his successor would later reveal that much of this investment was wasted and he failed in his key goal – improving availability. Part of this investment saw the construction of four fully automated depots, which at £100 million each cost four times more than standard depots.
In 2001, Sainsbury's moved into its current headquarters at Holborn, London. Sainsbury's previously occupied Stamford House and twelve other buildings around
Southwark. The accounting department remained separate at
Streatham
Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
Streatham was in Surrey ...
. The building was designed by architectural firm
Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide ...
, and had been developed on the former
Mirror Group site for Andersen Consulting (now
Accenture
Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentu ...
); Sainsbury's acquired the 25-year lease when Accenture pulled out.
Sainsbury's was a founding member of the
Nectar loyalty card scheme, which was launched in September 2002, in conjunction with
Debenhams,
Barclaycard and
BP; Debenhams, Barclaycard and BP have all subsequently left the scheme, although until the chain's demise Nectar points continued to be awarded for online purchases at Debenhams made through the Nectar app. The Nectar scheme replaced the Sainsbury's Reward Card; accrued points were transferred over.
In January 2003,
Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...
(trading as Morrisons) made an offer for the
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, del ...
group, prompting a bidding war between the major supermarkets. The Trade and Industry Secretary,
Patricia Hewitt, referred the various bids to the
Competition Commission, which reported its findings on 26 September. The Commission found that all bids, with the exception of Morrison's, would "operate against the public interest". As part of the approval Morrison's was to dispose of 53 of the combined group's shops.
In May 2004, Sainsbury's announced that it would acquire fourteen of these shops, thirteen Safeway shops and one Morrison's outlet, located primarily in the Midlands and the North of England.
'Making Sainsbury's Great Again' (2004–2006)
At the end of March 2004, Davis was promoted to chairman and was replaced as CEO by
Justin King. King joined Sainsbury's from
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
where he was a director with responsibility for its food division and Kings Super Markets, Inc. subsidiary in the United States.
Schooled in Solihull near Birmingham, and a graduate of the University of Bath, where he took a business administration degree, King was also previously a managing director at Asda with responsibility for hypermarkets.
In June 2004, Davis was forced to quit in the face of an impending shareholder revolt, over his salary and bonuses. Investors were angered by a bonus share award of over £2 million, despite poor company performance. On 19 July 2004, Davis' replacement Philip Hampton, was appointed as chairman.
King ordered a direct mail campaign to one million Sainsbury's customers as part of his six-month business review, asking them what they wanted from the company and where the company could improve. This reaffirmed the commentary of retail analysts: the group was not ensuring that shelves were fully stocked, due to the failure of the IT systems introduced by Peter Davis.
On 19 October 2004, King unveiled the results of the business review and his plans to revive the company's fortunes, in a three-year recovery plan entitled 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again'.
This was generally well received by both the stock market and the media. Immediate plans included laying off over 750 headquarters staff, and the recruitment of around 3,000 shop floor staff, to improve the quality of service and address the firm's main problem: stock availability. The aim would be to increase sales revenue by £2.5 billion by the financial year ending March 2008. Another significant announcement was the halving of the
dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-i ...
to increase funds available for price cuts and quality.
King hired Lawrence Christensen as supply chain director in 2004. Previously he was an expert in logistics at
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, del ...
, but left following its takeover by
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...
. Immediate supply chain improvements included the reactivation of two distribution centres. At the time of the business review on 19 October 2004, referring to the availability problems, Justin King said "Lawrence hadn't seen anything that he hadn't seen before. He just hadn't seen them all in the same place at the same time".
In 2006, Christensen commented on the four automated depots introduced by Davis, saying "not a single day went by without one, if not all of them, breaking down... The systems were flawed. They have to stop for four hours every day for maintenance. But because they were constantly breaking down you would be playing catch up. It was a vicious circle."
Christensen said a fundamental mistake was to build four such depots at once, rather than building one which could be thoroughly tested before progressing with the others.
In 2007, Sainsbury's announced a further £12 million investment in its depots to keep pace with sales growth and the removal of the failed automated systems from its depots.
In addition, it did a deal with IBM to upgrade its Electronic Point of Sale systems as a result of increased sales.
Sainsbury's sold its subsidiary in America, Shaw's, to
Albertsons in March 2004. Also in 2004 Sainsbury's expanded its share of the
convenience shop market through acquisitions.
After the launch of King's recovery programme, the company reported nineteen consecutive quarters of sales growth, most recently in October 2009.
Early sales increases were credited to solving problems with the company's distribution system. Later sales improvements were put down to price cuts and the company's focus on fresh and healthy food.
Takeover bids (2007)
On 2 February 2007, after months of speculation about a private equity bid,
CVC Capital Partners,
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
(KKR) and
Blackstone Group announced that they were considering a bid for Sainsbury's. The consortium grew to include
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
and
Texas Pacific Group
TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in grow ...
. On 6 March 2007, with a formal bid yet to be tabled, the Takeover Panel issued a bid deadline of 13 April.
On 4 April, KKR left the consortium to focus on its bid for
Alliance Boots
Alliance Boots GmbH was a multinational pharmacy-led health and beauty group with corporate headquarters in Bern, Switzerland and operational headquarters in Nottingham and Weybridge, United Kingdom.
The company had a presence in over 27 co ...
.
On 5 April, the consortium submitted an "indicative offer" of 562p a share to the company's board. After discussions between Sir Philip Hampton and the two largest Sainsbury family shareholders
Lord Sainsbury of Turville and
Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover the offer was rejected.
On 9 April, the indicative offer was raised to 582p a share, however this too was rejected. This meant the consortium could not satisfy its own preconditions for a bid, most importantly 75% shareholder support; the combined Sainsbury family holding at the time was 18%.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville, who then held 7.75% of Sainsbury's, stated that he could see no reason why the Sainsbury's board would even consider opening its books for due diligence for anything less than 600p per share.
Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, with just under 3%, was more extreme than his cousin, and refused to sell at any price. He believed any offer at that stage of Sainsbury's recovery was likely to undervalue the business,
and with private equity seeking high returns on their investments, saw no reason to sell, given that the current management, led by Justin King, could deliver the extra profit generated for the benefit of existing investors. He claimed the bid 'brought nothing to the business', and that high levels of debt would significantly weaken the company and its competitive position in the long term, which would have an adverse effect on Sainsbury's stakeholders. On 11 April, the CVC-led consortium abandoned its offer, stating that "it became clear the consortium would be unable to make a proposal that would result in a successful offer."
In May 2007, Sainsbury's identified five areas of growth: Growth of non-food ranges; opening of new convenience shops and growth of online home delivery and banking operations; Expansion of supermarket space through new shops and development of the company's "largely underdeveloped shop portfolio"; and "active property management".
On 25 April 2007, Delta Two, a Qatari investment company, bought a 14% stake in Sainsbury's causing its share price to rise 7.17%, and then increased its holding to 17.6%. Their interest in Sainsbury's is thought to centre on its property portfolio. They increased their stake to 25% in June 2007. On 18 July 2007, BBC News reported that Delta Two had tabled a conditional bid proposal. Paul Taylor, the principal of Delta Two, flew David and John Sainsbury to
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...
to reveal and discuss the potential bid which amounted to 600p per share.
The family had reservations about the price of the bid. They were also concerned about the proposed structure, which involved splitting the business into an operating company and a highly leveraged property company. They were additionally concerned about adequacy of funding, both for the bid and for the company's pension scheme. On 5 November 2007, it was announced Delta Two had abandoned its takeover bid due to the "
deterioration of credit markets" and concerns about funding the company's pension scheme.
Administrative changes
In January 2008, Sainsbury's brought the number of its supermarkets in Northern Ireland to eleven, with the purchase of two Curley's Supermarkets in Dungannon and Belfast.
In November 2007, Sainsbury's centralised its HR department, relocating to the 17th and 18th floors of the
Manchester Arndale Centre
Manchester Arndale (one of a number of shopping centres in the UK by the same developers, also known simply as the Arndale Centre or the Arndale) is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. It was constructed in phases between 1972 and 19 ...
to form a Shared Service Centre, which was initially trialled to deal with Recruitment in Scotland and was later rolled out to the whole of the United Kingdom. July 2009 saw the HR Shared Service Centre in Manchester expand to include most HR Processes in its Colleague Administration Department and Occupational Health enquiries in a dedicated unit.
Since April 2012, the centre has begun a gradual relocation to its new offices in the centre of Lincoln, along with a rebrand as Sainsbury's HR Services.
Developing business (2009–2016)
In March 2009, Sainsbury's reached an agreement to buy 24 shops from
The Co-operative Group, 22 of which were
Somerfield shops, which the group were required to sell as a condition of their takeover of Somerfield. A further nine shops were purchased from The Co-operative Group in June 2009. These were concentrated in West Wales, the North of England and Scotland, where Sainsbury's market share is low.
In May 2010, Sainsbury's confirmed a multimillion-pound deal with the
London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to be the main sponsor of the
2012 Paralympic Games
The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Game ...
. Under the deal, Sainsbury's sold Paralympic merchandise and became involved in high-profile events, such as the torch relay. It became one of only two sponsors able to take advantage of the limited branding allowed within the Games. The promotional rights did not extend to the Olympics. After the Paralympic Games, the company decided to sponsor the
British Paralympic Association through to Rio 2016.
On 30 November 2011, Sainsbury's reached the first milestone in its ''Vision for 2020'', by opening its thousandth self-service shop in
Irvine, Scotland. To celebrate this, Sainsbury's doubled its staff discount to 20% for the first four days of December. In January 2014, Sainsbury's completed the purchase of the 50% share in
Sainsbury's Bank, owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
In July 2014, the company began powering one of its shops by converting
food waste into bio methane gas to generate electricity. The group became the first retailer to come off the
National Grid by its own means.
In July 2016, Arcus FM extended its facilities management contract with Sainsbury's, securing a ten-year renewal. Arcus won the initial contract in 2009, and saw the contract extended in 2011.
Multi-channel retailer and restructuring (2016–present)
After a four-month pursuit, in April 2016
Home Retail Group agreed to be taken over by Sainsbury's for £1.4bn. Sainsbury's completed the acquisition in September 2016. The deal included catalogue chain
Argos and furnishing retailer
Habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
. As a result, the new Sainsbury's group was organised into four divisions: the core Sainsbury's food retail business; General Merchandising (including Argos) & TU Clothing; Financial Services (Sainsbury's Bank and Argos financial services businesses); and various property investments.
Throughout 2016 and 2017 Sainsbury's pursued expansion of its multi-channel strategy, increasing the number of groceries Click and Collect points and online fulfilment locations to serve its online delivery network including opening a
dark store
The term dark store, dark shop, dark supermarket or dotcom centre refers to a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping. A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can either be used to facilitate a "c ...
in
Bromley by Bow
Bromley, commonly known as
Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
The area is distinct from Bow, which lies ...
to serve the London area, increasing geographical coverage of its same-day groceries delivery network and integrating concessions into its shops such as Argos, Habitat,
Timpson's and
Starbucks.
In November 2016, Sainsbury's announced its intention to cut £500 million of costs from its business. In March 2017 400 jobs were cut and 4000 jobs were re-organized, mainly affecting employees in night shift and commercial operation (cash office and price control) roles.
In August 2017, 1000 jobs were cut throughout all of its Head Office and support centres, affecting a variety of functions.
In October 2017, changes to security contracts meant that provider
Mitie reduced the number of
security officers within shops. In the same month Sainsbury's announced plans to axe all shop-based
Human Resource employees, including HR managers, payroll clerks, administration clerks and Learning and Development managers, overall affecting 1400 jobs.
Additionally another 600 jobs at its Head Offices were cut.
In January 2018, Sainsbury's announced proposals to overhaul shop management structures which would result in job losses 'in the thousands'.
On 1 February 2018, Sainsbury's announced the purchase of
Nectar from
Aimia
Aimia is an investment holding company with a focus on long-term investments in public and private companies, on a global basis, through controlling or minority stakes, and is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is publicly listed on the Toront ...
for £60 million; this gave full control of all Nectar data to Sainsbury's.
In March 2018, Sainsbury's announced that it would be increasing the base rate of pay for its staff to retain the best workers. It said it would increase pay by 15% in the year, spending an extra £100 million on a plan that would also simplify the number of job roles.
In April 2018, Sainsbury's entered talks with
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
about a proposed merger with Asda, which, if approved, could have formed the largest UK supermarket company. Under the proposal, Walmart would have owned 42% of the group, with day-to-day operations being led by the chief executive of Sainsbury's at the time, Mike Coupe. The group also outlined plans to open branches of Argos within Asda shops. However, the
Competition and Markets Authority (the UK's regulator on anti-competitive practices) said in February 2019 that it could block the merger. On 25 April 2019, the Competition and Markets Authority blocked the merger and it was abandoned by Sainsbury's.
In November 2020, Sainsbury's stated that up to 3,500 jobs were at risk due to the closure of supermarket counters and the closure of further Argos standalone stores. In March 2021, the group announced further restructuring with the loss of 1150 head office and warehousing roles. Office sites Victoria and Saffron House in London, as well as Walsgrave in Coventry, were closed; office space was reduced at other sites at Milton Keynes, Coventry, London and Manchester. The restructure also included the closure of the company's only
online fulfilment centre in
Bromley-by-Bow, London; with online orders instead being fulfilled by nearby stores with online fulfilment capabilities The group reported a £261 million loss in April 2021, citing £485 million of investment in 'additional safety measures' in response to the
Coronavirus pandemic, additional staffing costs and additional staff bonuses. The group's financial results included the one-off costs of announced restructuring as well as
writedowns of its estate valuations and banking assets. The group's new CEO Simon Roberts has started to focus the grocery business on a 'food first strategy'; the company's slogan changed in May 2021 and an advertising campaign followed promoting healthier eating choices and sustainable food, designed to complement the company's partnership of the
2021 UN Climate Change Conference being held in the UK.
Leaders
Shops
In March 2019, Sainsbury's shop portfolio was as follows:
It is particularly strong in London and the South-East, where it is based, and has powerful positions within many UK cities. The company acquired the Midlands-based Thoroughgood in the 1930s. Expansion since 1945 has given the company national reach, although the chain is not as well-represented in Scotland as Tesco and Morrisons.
Supermarkets
On 29 September 2010, Sainsbury's opened one of its largest UK shops, an extension of its existing shop in Crayford, South East London, which now has over of retail space and is its largest supermarket to be built in the UK. Bybrook in Ashford, Kent, which reopened on 16 November 2011 has over .
The refurbished
Lincoln, Lincolnshire shop opened on 24 November 2010, making it the UK's second-largest Sainsbury's supermarket after Crayford at .
Shops in the 'supermarket' category all have similar layouts and operations but may vary in their offering to the customer. Most will have a convenience kiosk, produce, meat, fish, groceries and frozen food, plus staffed and
self-service checkouts. However depending on the size of the shop, they may also have an in-shop bakery, pizza counter, a cafe or Fresh Kitchen, Tu clothing, general merchandise with some stores having an on-site Argos and / or petrol station along with an online picking department. Some shops also feature concessions such as a beauty hall, travel agents,
Jessops
Jessops (Group) Limited is a British photographic retailing company. It was established in 1935 by Frank Jessop in Leicester, United Kingdom. The company controls Jessops Europe Limited, which in turn control JR Prop Limited (formally Jessops Re ...
,
Patisserie Valerie,
Specsavers,
Carte D'or and
Ben and Jerrys
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream ...
ice cream stands,
Zizzi pizza counters, Sushi Gourmet counters, and The Fragrance Shop. Others also feature a "Centre for Dentistry" where dental treatments are offered and/or an "Explore Learning" centre where children are offered extra English and maths tuition. Some shops also feature a
Starbucks Coffee instead of an in-shop cafe.
In March 2020, due to the declaration of the UK lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the panic buying that followed as a result, Sainsbury's supermarkets allowed shoppers to buy no more than three of each food item, to ensure all visitors have access to the products they need.
Sainsbury's Fuel
Sainsbury's operates a chain of fuel forecourts located at some of its supermarkets selling diesel, petrol and City Diesel. The chain first opened a forecourt in 1974 at its
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...
SavaCentre hypermarket, the forecourts were initially supplied by and marketed as
Jet stations. However, from 1980 onwards Sainsbury's operated its own forecourts and sourced its own fuel. In 2004,
BP became the supplier of fuel and operated its forecourts at supermarkets where possible. This deal ended in 2009 and operation of all forecourts and fuel sourcing returned to the control of Sainsbury's.
Sainsbury's Café
A number of stores operate self-service cafes, marketed as Sainsbury's Café, of which most are open for the same hours as the supermarket itself.
Sainsbury's Local
As well as developing its own sites, Sainsbury's expanded its convenience portfolio through acquisitions of
Bell's Stores,
Jackson's Stores, JB Beaumont and SL Shaw Ltd. Sainsbury's initially retained the strong Bells, Jacksons and Beaumont branding. For example, refurbished shops were called ''Sainsbury's at Bells''. These were effectively Sainsbury's Local shops with a revised fascia, retaining some features of the former local chain. Unrefurbished shops retained the original brand and logo, but still offered Sainsbury's own brand products, pricing and some point of sale; however they did not accept Nectar cards. The old websites were also retained with some Sainsbury's branding. However, all of these acquired shops were fully converted to the Sainsbury's Local fascia from 4 May 2007.
In July 2013, chief executive Justin King announced plans to focus on expanding its convenience shops.
Sainsbury's Online
Sainsbury's operates an internet shopping service branded as "Sainsbury's Online". To use this service customers choose their groceries online, or by phone (which includes a "phone order" fee). Sainsbury's also provide the Sainsbury's Gift Cards and Sainsbury's Business Direct transactional websites that sell gift cards, gift vouchers and food tokens with credit or value that can be spent at any Sainsbury shop. Both products are not valid for buying certain products or services. The Gift Card website promotes the card as an ideal gift due to the large range of products and the number of shops available to spend them in. The Business Direct website, operated by MBL Solutions Ltd, promotes the cards as ideal for rewarding and motivating employees.
Distribution
Sainsbury's supply chain operates from thirteen regional distribution centres (RDCs), with two national distribution centres for slower moving goods, and two frozen food facilities. In addition, the depot at Tamworth transships general merchandise to the RDCs.
;Regional distribution centres
*
Basingstoke, Hampshire
*
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
*
Dartford, Kent
* Emerald Park, Emerson's Green,
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
*
Greenford
Greenford () is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale.
Greenford is served by Greenford Station (L ...
, London
*
Vauxhall, London
* Hams Hall, Coleshill,
West Midlands
* Haydock,
St Helens, Merseyside
* Langlands Park, East Kilbride,
South Lanarkshire
* Northampton,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...
*
Sherburn, North Yorkshire
Sherburn is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is situated on the south side of the Vale of Pickering, immediately north of th ...
* Waltham Point,
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
;Regional distribution centres – Slow Moving
* Rye Park,
Hoddesdon,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
*
Stoke, Staffordshire
*
Tamworth, Staffordshire
Tamworth (, ) is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River T ...
;National distribution centre – Frozen
* Pineham,
Upton, Northamptonshire
Upton is a civil parish north-east of Kislingbury and south-west of Dallington, in Northamptonshire, England about west of Northampton town centre along the A4500 road. Formerly a scattered hamlet, it is now part of the town. The area west of ...
;National distribution centre – General Merchandise
*
Daventry, Northamptonshire
Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, m ...
;National distribution centres – Clothing
*
Bedford, Bedfordshire
* Shire Park, Worcestershire
A planned regional distribution centre (RDC) in Exeter was abandoned, and the land sold to German discounter rival
Lidl.
The frozen foods RDC at
Elstree
Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...
in Hertfordshire closed with Sainsbury's relocating to a new national distribution centre at Pineham, just outside
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...
.
Subsidiaries
Sainsbury's Bank
In 1997, Sainsbury's Bank was established – a joint venture between J Sainsbury plc and the
Bank of Scotland, later a part of the
Lloyds Banking Group. Services offered include car, life, home, pet and travel insurance as well as health cover, loans, credit cards, savings accounts and
individual savings account
An individual savings account (ISA; ) is a class of retail investment arrangement available to residents of the United Kingdom. First introduced in 1999, the accounts have favourable tax status. Payments into the account are made from after-tax i ...
s. On 8 May 2013, Sainsbury's announced it would buy the 50% share in the business owned by Lloyds Banking Group.
Sainsbury's Energy
Founded in 2011, Sainsbury's Energy is a virtual utility provider in partnership with
nPower who offer gas and electricity. Sainsbury's no longer have face-to-face salespersons in-shop but there are leaflets and posters etc. advertising Sainsbury's Energy in its supermarkets. Sainsbury's Energy was previously supplied by
British Gas; the agreement ended in 2019 with nPower commencing supply from February. nPower in November 2019 was acquired by E.On Group as part of the acquisition of Innogy which led to E.On Next being the supplier for Sainsbury's Energy as of July 2020.
Argos
The company was founded in 1972 and its Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops were rebranded as ''Argos'' beginning in July 1974.
Former formats and ventures
;Sainsbury's Freezer Centres
Sainsbury's Freezer Centres were a frozen food chain operated between 1974 and 1986, the shops were entirely dedicated to frozen food. Due to competition from specialist frozen food chains such as Bejam, Sainsbury's converted its original service shops that were too small for modern use to small frozen specialist shops. Despite initial difficulty as only 11% of the population owned a freezer, the chain expanded to 21 shops at its height. As freezers became more popular, frozen food departments were designed into Sainsbury's main supermarkets, and the chain was sold to
Bejam in 1986, who were ultimately sold to
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
in 1989.
;Sainsbury's SavaCentre
SavaCentre was a chain of 13 hypermarkets and 7 discount supermarkets operated between 1977 and 2005, initially in a joint venture with
BHS. The shops ranged in size between and , and the discount supermarkets between and . At the time of its inception it was the only dedicated hypermarket chain in the UK. Shop layout consisted of a 50:50 split between food and non-food shopping, with a complete range of both retailers' products, and later included input from Habitat and
Mothercare as they merged with BHS. Some shops also included features such as a petrol station and in-shop cafe. In 1989 Sainsbury's bought out BHS's stake, but still allowed BHS to retail from SavaCentres until it offered its own clothing and merchandise offering.
;Sainsbury's Calais Wine Shop
Sainsbury's operated one alcohol hypermarket in partnership with
Auchan in
Calais, France for the lucrative UK
booze cruise
In British slang, a booze cruise is a brief trip from Britain to France or Belgium with the intent of taking advantage of lower prices, and buying personal supplies of (especially) alcohol or tobacco in bulk quantities. This is a legally allow ...
market. The shop closed in 2010 after describing the operation as 'economically unviable'.
;Sainsbury's Market
In 2002, Sainsbury's opened an experimental shop in the
Bluebird Building in
Chelsea, London. The concept of the 'Market' shop was to provide a large range of fresh meat, fish, delicatessen items and bread through staff serving over counters. Staff were specially hired for their skill and passion for their roles in-shop. The layout also provided a larger than usual area for retailing fresh produce. The shop closed in 2004 after poor results. A second, much larger version in
Pimlico was designated as a 'Market' shop, but the shop's branding and layout was gradually reverted to a standard Sainsbury's shop.
;Fresh Kitchen
In 2011, Sainsbury's opened a trial
food to go shop in Fleet Street London selling sandwiches, baguettes and hot snacks in an effort to expand its business into new areas of opportunity. The shop closed a year later, after the shop's lease was not renewed. Sainsbury's commented that footfall was too high to offer high standards of quality and service however it was not ruling out performing another trial in another location, explaining that it had learnt a lot. In 2020, Sainsbury's began to rebrand some in-store cafés to " Fresh Kitchen".
;Mobile by Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's operated a virtual mobile network from 2001 until 2003 which closed due to being commercially unsustainable. In 2013 Sainsbury's re-entered the UK telecommunications industry when it launched a mobile phone network called Mobile by Sainsbury's. The
virtual network
In computing, network virtualization is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform v ...
was operated in partnership with
Vodafone
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vod ...
. The network was promoted heavily in-shop and most supermarkets started retailing
SIM cards and handsets for the network. However, in 2015 Sainsbury's announced that the service would be closing in January 2016 after a breakdown in the relationship with its provider Vodafone.
;Sainsbury's Compare and Save
Sainsbury's Compare and Save was a comparison and switching service website that promoted a wide range of television, broadband and telephone deals from a variety of providers. The service, free to Sainsbury's customers, claimed to list 15,000 different packages. The website and service launched in 2008 and was operated by
SimplifyDigital.
;Sainsbury's Pharmacy
Sainsbury's operated 270 pharmacies within its supermarkets. Sainsbury's also operated pharmacies at three major UK hospitals:
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
...
,
St Thomas' Hospital and
James Cook University Hospital. In July 2015 Sainsbury's announced it was selling its 281 pharmacies to
Lloydspharmacy for £125 million with all 2500 pharmacy employees being transferred and new rent agreements being made.
;Sainsbury's Entertainment
Sainsbury's Entertainment was a transactional website which provided films as downloads or for streaming, using
Rovi Corporation
TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...
software. The site arranged to register with
ATVOD as a
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
service. The website also sold MP3 downloads as well as eBooks through
aNobii. The site began operating in 2010 and until March 2014 also sold physical products including DVDs, CDs, Blu-ray discs and books. These were posted to the customer by a distributor, which after 2011 was Sainsbury's subsidiary company: Global Media Vault Ltd. Customers received nectar points from shopping at Sainsbury's Entertainment. Sainsbury's announced in September 2016 that it would close the business on 30 November 2016.
;Sainsbury's Welcome Break Partnership
In 2006, Sainsbury's opened a Convenience store at Birchanger Green services, operated by owners Welcome Break.
;Sainsbury's Euro Garages Partnership
Sainsbury's trialed franchising their convenience store format to
Euro Garages who planned to operate six small stores within its service stations, replacing some of its hundreds of SPAR stores, the first time Sainsbury's has trusted a third party to operate a Sainsbury's store since 2006. Beginning in
Blackburn in 2016 Sainsbury's re-trained EuroGarages staff of 15 to operate the convenience store and later followed with stores in
Heathrow
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...
and
Bury. In February 2018 Sainsbury's issued a statement calling a mutual end to the trial: "following a commercial review, a joint decision has been made to bring the trial to a close." In 2019, the partnership was continued with a new format called "Sainsbury's on the Go" aimed at travellers, carrying travel and snack products. These stores were opened in spaces at former Little Chef restaurants and in the petrol stations, replacing SPAR. In October 2020, the Issa Brothers bought ASDA and rebranded some stores to "ASDA on the Move" and the ones in the former Little Chef restaurants to SPAR. Few stores remain in the petrol stations, waiting for a rebrand whilst others in the former restaurants are now empty.
Product ranges
These own-brand lines include:
Former ranges
Marketing and branding
Shop fascias
The flagship supermarket in
Greenwich, South London, first trialled a modern "Sainsbury's" look, leading to the term 'Greenwich Blue', which was used to describe the signature colour of new identity. After its success most supermarkets were refurbished with dark blue walls, bright orange wall panels and grey shelving, as well as new checkouts. Individual counters also had different, brightly coloured panels behind them. Gradually the format was rolled out across the entire Sainsbury's estate. The 'Greenwich Blue' look has been phased out and new supermarkets now have a fresher look. Old external signage bearing the 'J Sainsbury' name was still to be found in use as recently as summer 2011 in Swindon, Ashbourne in Derbyshire and Blackheath, West Midlands.
Nectar loyalty card
Sainsbury's was a founding member of the UK's largest retail loyalty scheme, called 'Nectar', in 2002. The scheme allows customers to earn points on almost everything bought from Sainsbury's as well as from other participating retailers in return for a large range of rewards. For every pound spent the customer earns 1 point - a reward equivalent to 0.5% of supermarket purchases. Since 2015 Sainsbury's no longer offers 1 bonus point for every carrier bag the customers reuses.
From April 2015, Sainsbury's halved the number of points that customers earned for every pound, to one point per pound. Sainsbury's previously operated Sainsbury's Reward Scheme between 1995 and 2002 where customers used 'Reward Cards' or 'Storecards' to earn and spend points in a similar way, but limited to Sainsbury's businesses.
On 1 February 2018, Sainsbury's announced that it had acquired all assets, staff, systems and licences required for the full and independent operation of the Nectar loyalty programme in the UK through the acquisition of the shares of
Aimia Inc's UK business for £60m.
Sainsbury's Active Kids
Until 2017, Sainsbury's ran an annual voucher scheme for local organisations to redeem against equipment for sports and other activities. Customers earned vouchers from their shopping which they donated to an organisation of their choice, who then redeemed the vouchers with Sainsbury's, crediting their account with points to spend on items from a catalogue.
Brand match
In 2011, Sainsbury's introduced brand match. It matched prices of competitors. In March 2014 it stopped matching prices in Tesco. In August 2015 it rolled out the match pricing online. In April 2016 it stopped the brand match completely allowing customers to use the vouchers for two weeks after the offer closed. Tesco took Sainsbury's brand match vouchers for two months after the offer finished.
Brand ambassadors
2000–2011:
Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reach ...
was the public face of Sainsbury's, appearing on television and radio advertisements and in-shop promotional material. The deal earned him an estimated £1.2 million every year. In the first two years of these advertisements were estimated to have given Sainsbury's an extra £1 billion of sales or £200 million gross profit.
2010–2017: Paralympic swimmer
Ellie Simmonds was a Sainsbury's Active Kids ambassador.
2012–2014: Former footballer
David Beckham was a Sainsbury's Active Kids ambassador, in a deal that was claimed to be worth over £3.5 million.
Slogans
Sainsbury's currently uses the "Helping Everyone Eat Better" slogan which was launched on 24 February 2021. Over the years, Sainsbury's has used many slogans:
* ''"Quality perfect, Prices Lower"'' – The slogan used on the shop-front of the Islington shop in 1882.
* ''"Sainsbury's For Quality, Sainsbury's For Value"'' – Used in 1918 above the Drury Lane shop.
* ''"Sainsbury's. Essentials for the Essentials.''"
* ''"Good Food Costs Less At Sainsbury's"'' – Used from the 1960s to the 1990s. Described by BBC News as "probably the best-known advertising slogan in retailing."
* ''"Sainsbury's – Everyone's Favourite Ingredient"'' – Used in a series of TV commercials in the 1990s which featured celebrities cooking Sainsbury's food.
* ''"Fresh food, fresh ideas. Eat healthy"'' – Used in 1998.
* ''"Value to shout about"'' – A 1998/1999 campaign fronted by
John Cleese which was widely claimed to have been a major mistake. Sainsbury's said it actually depressed sales. However, the company had been losing sales for years because of the rise of Tesco.
* ''"Making Life Taste Better"'' – Introduced in 1999 and used until May 2005.
* ''"Try something new today"'' – Introduced in September 2005 until September 2011.
* ''"Value where it matters"'' – Used in advertising from late 2010 until May 2011.
* ''"Clothes You Can't Wait To Wear"'' – Used in all new advertising for TU Clothing as part of advertising campaign throughout May 2011.
* ''"Live Well For Less"'' – Introduced in September 2011 until February 2021 following an 18-month business review.
* ''"Christmas is for Sharing"'' – Used for all Sainsburys' Christmas adverts from 2013 to present.
* ''"Here's to Extraordinary"'' – Used only throughout 2012 to promote sponsorship of the
London 2012 Paralympic Games
The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...
.
* ''"Helping Everyone Eat Better"'' – Introduced in February 2021 after being named Principal Supermarket Partner of the
2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) summit in Glasgow.
Sainsbury's was a sponsor of the
Paralympic Summer Games in London 2012 and it was the largest sponsorship signing in the history of the Games.
Street name
When Sainsbury's opened its new supermarket in
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...
on part of the site of the former
Kingston Power Station in the 2000s, a decision was made to name a new road leading to the supermarket "Sury Basin", a pun on the name of "Surrey" (Kingston's historic county) but in fact an
anagram of the company's name.
Staffing
In 2010, Sainsbury's opened seven food colleges that teach fishmongery, butchery, breadmaking and confectioning. 21,000 staff have been trained at these venues so far.
Qualifications can be gained through in house training, and so far 15,400 staff have been awarded
City and Guild qualifications.
'Our Sainsbury's' is a social and information website for staff to use to access staff benefits and information, and to interact with other colleagues.
Employee relations
;Great Place to Work Group
Each supermarket or group of conveniences shops elects a group of 'representatives' from across their shop or region to meet once a month to discuss the working life of their branch and the company. The meetings can include communication from Head Office, the chance to organise charity or local events and the opportunity for employee's to discuss issues and feedback or question the attending Store Manager. The group controls a budget for donating to local charities and a budget for investing in employee facilities. The group was previously known as the 'Colleague Council', a separate version for young employees was called 'Youth Forum' and another separate group called 'SSA Council' existed to organise events in shops. A change in 2014 combined all three into 'Great Place To Work Groups'. The shop groups are part of a national structure, meeting monthly at shops and depots, then monthly at a regional level and then finally at a national meeting less frequently. The shop level is chaired by Store Managers, regional level by a Store Manager and Regional Operations Manager and nationally by the Groups HR Director.
;Sainsbury's Staff Association
Sainsbury's Staff Association was founded in 1947. It is owned and run by Sainsbury's staff. All permanent staff can join at a cost of £1 every 28 days for one person (or £1.20 every 28 days for two people). The funds raised are collected into accounts in every shop, and spent on whatever the shop's SSA staff wish, usually social events and experiences out of shop. Benefits also include further discounts with other retailers.
;Sainsbury's Veterans Association
Sainsbury's Veterans Association was started in 1947 by eight staff who wished all staff to stay in touch with each other. Today members enjoy a range of benefits including Honorary SSA membership, 10% discount, newsletters, invitation to an annual reunion, a visitor service, birthday and anniversary gifts, donation upon bereavement and transfer of benefits to spouse upon death. To qualify staff have to serve 25 years with the company at the time of their retirement or redundancy. The association's current and former presidents have included former Sainsbury's CEO and later Chairman
Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG and former Sainsbury's CEO Dino Adriano until his death.
Controversies
Dairy price fixing
In 2007, Sainsbury's was fined £26 million for its involvement in a
dairy product
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items i ...
cartel.
VAT avoidance scheme
Sainsbury's avoided
VAT by treating a 2.5% ''card transaction fee'' as exempt from the tax, although the total charged to the customer remained the same.
HMRC used a
test case
In software engineering, a test case is a specification of the inputs, execution conditions, testing procedure, and expected results that define a single test to be executed to achieve a particular software testing objective, such as to exercise ...
against
Debenhams to outlaw the practice in 2005.
Removal of kosher products
Complaints were made after a 2014
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
post showed a
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The area has its ro ...
franchisee's response to
anti-semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
threats was to remove Sainsbury's
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
products from shelves. They were restored and the staff member who removed them was reprimanded.
Singhsbury's
In 2012, Jel Singh Nagra, a shop keeper from
North Tyneside, was threatened with legal action from Sainsbury's after he named his shop Singhsbury's. It complained about his logo design and the name. Nagra changed the shop name to Morrisinghs.
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...
wished him well.
A Singhbury's Local in
Aylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
removed its sign after intervention from Sainsbury's in 2017.
Fairtrade tea
In May 2017, the supermarket was criticised by organisations including
Oxfam for dropping its
Fairtrade
A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asi ...
label from
tea. They queried how Sainsbury's own standards would be higher than those of
Divine Chocolate, an ethical trading company part-owned by
cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter an ...
farmers in Ghana, said Sainsbury's move was tipping the balance back in favour of retailers.
Coconut packaging
In 2018, customers questioned the need to cover
coconuts
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or t ...
with
plastic film. Sainsbury's then
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Mike Coupe offered to investigate their concerns.
Kenyan worker conditions
In a 2006 report, anti-poverty charity
War on Want criticised conditions faced by workers at
Kenyan suppliers of
cut flowers to the supermarket.
''Bristol Rovers F.C. v Sainsbury's''
In 2012, Sainsbury's agreed to purchase
Bristol Rovers F.C's Memorial Stadium for £30 million and to lease it back until the new
UWE Stadium was ready, but pulled out of the deal because the terms had not been met.
It was claimed in the
High Court the retailer had been looking for a way out for nearly two years. The club's
QC argued Sainsbury's supermarket on the site had become "less financially viable" in a difficult trading climate. He said it saw restrictions on delivery times as an opportunity to get out of the contract and "did nothing" from January 2014 to challenge them. The club successfully made its own application to lift the restrictions in December that year.
Sainsbury's prevailed in the case but Rovers accused Sainsbury's of breaking its promises. It described the decision as a "kick in the teeth" for the people of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
. The club claimed it was "abundantly clear throughout the case that Sainsbury's reneged on its promises to the local community to invest in the region and showed a flagrant disregard for the terms of the contract." Bristol Rovers appealed the decision in 2016 and lost.
Archive
Sainsbury's archive of over 16,000 items relating to the business since its foundation is kept at the
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...
. The archive contains documents, product packaging and advertising.
See also
*
Sainsbury family
The Sainsbury family (also Lord Sainsbury and family and incorrectly the Sainsbury's family) founded Sainsbury's, the UK's second-largest supermarket chain. Today, the family has many interests, including business, politics, philanthropy, arts, and ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
Supermarkets of the United Kingdom
Supermarkets of Northern Ireland
British companies established in 1869
Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom
Retail companies established in 1869
1869 establishments in England
British brands
Sovereign wealth fund portfolio companies