Sainsbury's online grocery sales have hit the milestone £1-billion mark.
Commenting on the milestone, Jon Rudoe, Sainsbury’s director of online, digital & cross-channel, said, "We’ve gone from strength to strength in recent years, and hitting £1bn in sales is a great testament to the dedication to our colleagues who always go the extra mile to deliver outstanding service for our customers. We bring the fantastic service that customers enjoy in our stores in to customer's homes via the web and our amazing Online delivery team."
Rudoe added, "We’re confident there is still a huge amount of potential for growth as our online grocery operation continues to complement our core supermarket business. Customers love the choice of shopping different channels at Sainsbury’s, and they reward us with their loyalty in store and online."
Sainsbury’s Online now delivers to over 190,000 customers every week with sales growth of over 16% per year. Sainsbury’s first launched its online grocery business in 1999 and it has now grown to employ over 10,000 colleagues either in-store or as drivers, operating out of 214 stores across Britain.
Some 96% of UK postcodes are covered, with Sainsbury’s delivery drivers travelling 43 million miles last year and delivering over 10.5 million items every week.
Sainsbury's Web Milestones:
October 2011 - acquired online entertainment company Global Media Vault Limited to support our drive into the growing online and digital entertainment market, retailing games, music, films and books via our Sainsbury’s Entertainment website.
May 2012 - launched MP3 music download service, giving customers access to over 2.3 million tracks and albums.
June 2012 - acquired a majority stake in Anobii, a social network and retailer of e-books.
August 2012 - licensed Rovi Corporation to power a new digital video service for Sainsbury’s Entertainment offering video on demand and digital copies of major studio Film and Television titles.
October 2012 - trial of Mobile Scan & Go, a new technology that lets customers scan items as they shop using their iPhone or Android phone and pay without unloading their trolley or basket at the till.
September 2013 - Sainsbury's annualized online grocery sales hit the £1 billion mark
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
