How IT is used in Sainsburys Essay Example for Free

How IT is used in Sainsburys Essay Sainsburys was founded in 1869 by John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury. They opened their first small dairy shop at 173 Drury Lane, London. It was so successful that further branches were opened in other market streets in Stepney, Islington and Kentish Town. The firm has expanded gradually over a century and now cover most of the UK with 463 stores nationwide. Recently, the group has expanded in the USA, where it acquired the New England-based Shaws Supermarkets Ltd in 1987 and diversified into banking, with the establishment in 1997 of Sainsburys Bank. The Sainsbury group today is one of the worlds leading retailers, playing a part in the lives of 15 million customers a week and employing over 169,000 people by June 2001. In 1995, Sainsburys was the first British supermarket Company to offer goods for sale from home, which after many trials of different methods has become the Internet Shopping service, Sainsburys To You. The first method of home shopping was introduced in 1995 and was called Order Collect. This was trialled at Sainsburys Solihull store. It involved customers using a personal catalogue to order by fax and then collect their orders from the store. After a small number of further trials into the desirability of home shopping, Sainsburys To You was introduced in spring 2000. Sainsburys re-branded their home shopping service and introduced Sainsburys To You in the London area. Sainsburys To You represents a more personalised online service with a new look website compared with those from the previous trials. The site greets customers by name and has the facility for customers to create and save their own shopping lists. All other areas did not have the home shopping service at this time. Since this time, Sainsburys have expanded their home shopping service. Sainsburys To You is now the second largest online retailer of grocery products with current annual sales around i 110 million. They take over 27,000 orders per week from serving over 71% of UK households. The first major step towards this was the opening of Europes largest and most technologically advanced grocery picking centre in Park Royal, North-West of London, in August 2000. The location of the centre is perfect as it can serve the 7 million people living in Central and Greater London, which represents 14% of the UK households. The centre employs up to 500 staff and has meant it can serve within and beyond the M25 area. In order for Sainsburys To You to be able to respond to the high street demand of home shopping they implemented a more powerful hardware package with the introduction of Sainsburys To You which has meant the service has cut the time spent ordering groceries online by half as well as increased the reliability, general efficiency and security of Sainsburys home shopping sector. The re-branding also included the introduction of new-look deliver vans and staff uniforms. In September 2000 Sainsburys plc decided to outsource all IT requirements to Accenture formerly Anderson Consulting Accenture is one of the worlds leading management consulting and technology Services Company. They employ over 145,000 people in 47 countries. Of these, 60% are part-time and 40% full-time. 62% of employees are women. Today, Sainsburys is Britains longest-standing major food retailing chain. The founders principles are to be the customers first choice for food shopping by providing high-quality products, value for money, excellent service and attention to detail. * A large Sainsburys Supermarket offers over 23,000 products 40% of these are Sainsburys own brand. In addition to a wide range of quality food and grocery products, many stores offer bread baked on the premises, delicatessen, meat and fish counters, pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants and petrol stations. * Sainsburys Supermarkets serves over 11 million customers a week and as at May 2003 had 535 stores throughout the UK. Nearly 60% of our stores are in town-centre or edge-of-centre locations, many of these built on previously derelict sites. Sainsburys home shopping history Order Collect: Sainsburys remote shopping trials began in 1995 with an Order and Collect service at Sainsburys Solihull store. Customers used a personal catalogue to order by fax and then collected their orders from the store. Orderline: Sainsburys Orderline service began in March 1998. Following trials and research, Orderline was trialled at nine stores in the London area. Sainsburys to you: Spring 2000, Sainsburys rebranded its home shopping service for existing customers in the London area. Sainsburys to you represents a more personalised online service with a new look website (www. sainsburystoyou. co. uk). The site greets customers by name and has the facility for customers to create and save their own shopping lists. With a more powerful hardware package, the service has cut the time spent ordering groceries online at Sainsburys by half. The rebranding also included the introduction of new-look delivery vans and staff uniforms.