Sainsbury’s is planning to close its online fulfilment centre in Bromley-by-Bow, London to instead focus on delivery from stores.
The plans, which are to be put to staff, were unveiled today by Sainsbury’s chief executive, Simon Roberts, as part of his ‘Food First’ business plan, where he is looking to cut costs by rationalising space and staff.
By this time next year more than 20 stores in and around London will have their online departments expanded as part of Sainsbury’s plans to grow its Groceries Online business.
Sainsbury’s hopes to redeploy most of the 650 staff currently working in the OFC to neighbouring stores to support the expanded online departments when the Bromley-by-Bow site is proposed to close in June.
“We have doubled our online capacity since this time last year and we can now serve over 850,000 customer orders every week,” said Roberts. “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 and collect slots.”
