28 March 2024, 17:21
By Furniture News Jul 22, 2016

Sainsbury’s steps up fulfilment as Argos purchase is approved

Sainsbury’s will create 900 jobs at its new online fulfilment centre in Bromley-by-Bow, East London. The 185,000 sqft centre, which is due to open this autumn, forms part of the retailer’s strategy to enable its customers to shop whenever and wherever they want, and will cater for the growing demand in the capital for Sainsbury’s online groceries service.

Robbie Feather, director of online, says: “Demand for our online delivery service in the capital continues to grow. We expect this trend to continue as more and more customers enjoy the flexibility of multichannel shopping using our groceries website and app, in addition to visiting stores.

"Our online orders are currently picked from supermarket stores across the UK and this model will continue, but the Bromley-by-Bow Centre will help us keep pace with demand in London, enabling us to fulfil another 25,000 orders per week.”

Sainsbury’s is also trialling same-day online grocery deliveries at three stores in London and the SouthEast.

Robbie adds: “As our online sales grow we are seeing an increasing proportion of orders placed for next-day delivery, so this trial is a natural next step in delivering our strategy to help customers shop whenever and wherever they want.”

The completion of the sale of the Argos business to Sainsbury's is imminent – it remains to be seen how the retailer's developing approach to delivery fulfilment will affect its growing homewares business.

The £1.4b purchase was under review by competition regulator the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), but was approved today. Home Retail Group shareholders will be asked to approve the deal on Wednesday.

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