Sainsbury's to cut jobs, clothing ops affected

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 3, 2021

UK supermarkets giant Sainsbury’s is to cut jobs with 1,150 roles at risk, it said on Wednesday. The company is restructuring in order to invest in its food ops and a number of departments will be affected, including clothing and general merchandise.

Some 500 roles will go at regional head offices across the UK and another 650 as it closes an online fulfilment centre in London. But the company said most of the latter staff could be redeployed in stores. 

The retailer is one of the biggest fashion names in the UK through its Tu Clothing label and is also a major GM retailer both through the Sainsbury’s brand and through Argos.

The jobs news comes shortly after rival Asda said that 3,000 store jobs were at risk as the firm focuses on growing online.

Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts said the new plan “puts food first”. 

While grocery is the retailer's core category, the move is perhaps a surprise coming at a time when the company’s clothing ops have been growing. And only last month it opened its revamped Hempstead Valley supermarket in Kent after a major investment that included the transformation of its fashion and beauty area.

The company has been adding to its brands line-up in fashion too. Bodywear brand Sloggi has just debuted on the Tu.co.uk webstore, for instance.

In January, Sainsbury’s had announced a 0.4% Q3 clothing sales rise while its general merchandise sales rose 6% in the quarter, with the Argos operation up 8.4%.