Sainsbury’s has unveiled its ‘Next Level Sainsbury’s’ strategy aiming to boost profits with a focus on food, loyalty, and efficiency.
- The strategy builds on the ‘Food First’ plan, aiming to expand full food ranges to more stores across the UK.
- Sainsbury’s seeks to enhance its loyalty scheme, Nectar, making it more integrated and user-friendly for customers.
- Argos, part of Sainsbury’s, is set for a transformation to promote frequent shopper visits and wider product ranges.
- A significant investment is planned, targeting technology and cost-saving measures to fuel future growth.
Sainsbury’s new strategy, termed ‘Next Level Sainsbury’s’, emphasises enhancing profitability by prioritising food offerings, loyalty programmes, and operational efficiencies. The initiative seeks to build on the success of the previous ‘Food First’ strategy. Chief Executive Simon Roberts expresses a keen interest in discovering the full potential of the business by enhancing its core offerings and operational framework.
A central component of the strategy is to expand the number of stores offering Sainsbury’s complete food range. Currently, only 15% of their approximately 600 stores offer the full suite of products. Roberts notes the intention to focus investments on 180 top-performing supermarkets to better supply a more extensive range of food items. This shift requires reallocating store space currently occupied by general merchandise.
Loyalty enhancement is another critical focus for Sainsbury’s. Although the Nectar programme powered a strong recent performance, it still lags in ease of use compared to competitors like Clubcard. The aim is to integrate Nectar more seamlessly into the shopping experience, capitalising on its coalition model and boosting profits through its marketing services agency, Nectar 360.
Argos, owned by Sainsbury’s, features prominently in the new strategy as well. While robust infrastructure improvements were previously achieved, there is an opportunity to increase the frequency of visits and expand product offerings. The strategy encourages the use of click-and-collect services and aims to bolster customer incentives through personalised offers via Nectar.
Lastly, Sainsbury’s plans to invest £1 billion in cost-saving initiatives and technological advancements. The focus is on creating a flexible technological platform to drive productivity and efficiency. Investments in automation and forecasting are highlighted as key areas for this growth, though there were no specific announcements regarding potential job impacts.
Sainsbury’s strategic initiatives aim to leverage past successes while positioning the company for sustained growth and enhanced customer engagement.
