Company overview

J Sainsbury plc consists of Sainsbury's – a chain of 525 supermarkets and 303 convenience stores – and Sainsbury's Bank.

Sainsbury's Supermarkets is the UK's longest standing major food retailing chain, having opened its first store in 1869. The Sainsbury's brand is built upon a heritage of providing customers with healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food. Quality and fair prices go hand-in-hand with a responsible approach to business. Sainsbury’s stores have a particular emphasis on fresh food and we strive to innovate continuously and improve products in line with customer needs.

We now serve over 18.5 million customers a week and have a market share of around 16 per cent. Our large stores offer around 30,000 products and we offer complementary non-food products and services in many of our stores. Our TU clothing range is in its fifth year and has 1 million transactions per week. An internet-based home delivery shopping service is also available to nearly 90 per cent of UK households.

Our business priorities

In March 2007 we identified five areas of focus to take Sainsbury’s from recovery to growth:

• Great food at fair prices: To build on and stretch the lead in food. By sharing our customers’ passion for healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food, Sainsbury’s will continue to innovate and provide leadership in delivering quality products at fair prices, sourced with integrity.
• Accelerating the growth of complementary non-food ranges: To continue to develop and accelerate the development of non-food ranges following the same principles of quality, value and innovation and to provide a broader shopping experience for customers.
• Reaching more customers through additional channels: To extend the reach of the Sainsbury’s brand by opening new convenience stores, developing the online home delivery operation and growing Sainsbury’s Finance.
• Growing supermarket space: To expand the company’s store estate, actively seeking and developing a pipeline of new stores and extending the largely underdeveloped store portfolio to provide an even better food offer while also growing space for non-food ranges.
• Active property management: The ownership of property assets provides operational flexibility and the exploitation of potential development opportunities will maximise value.