Sainsbury’s to close London fulfilment centre
The grocer is shifting emphasis in its online growth plans and seeking to expand the capacity of its stores to fulfil grocery orders.
Asda unveiled similar plans last week.
Sainsbury’s chief executive, Simon Roberts updated staff in London on plans to further grow Groceries Online. By March 2022 over 20 stores in and around the capital will have their online departments expanded, enabling Sainsbury’s to deliver thousands more orders each week.
As a result of the investment in stores, colleagues at the Online Fulfilment Centre (OFC) in Bromley-by-Bow, London will be consulted on proposals to close the site in June. Sainsbury’s hopes to redeploy most of the 650 OFC colleagues to neighbouring London stores to support expanded online departments. The food lab and bakery college, currently based at the OFC, will move to nearby locations.
Simon Roberts said: “Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our colleagues, we have doubled our online capacity since this time last year and we can now serve over 850,000 customer orders every week. As customer demand changes, we need to be able to adapt quickly. Our investment in London stores will enable more customers in the capital to access more home delivery and Click & Collect slots.”
The move is part of Sainsbury’s Food First initiative, which is expected to remove around 500 office roles, creating savings to invest in food.
The proposals are subject to consultation
