British supermarket group Sainsbury’s yesterday announced plans to cut about 1,500 jobs to slash costs as the sector increasingly automates its operations.
Britain’s second biggest supermarket after Tesco had announced earlier this month cost savings of £1 billion ($1.3bn), without detailing the number of job losses.
Sainsbury’s employs about 162,000 staff.
The job cuts will be spread across head office, food-sorting centres and in-store bakeries, Sainsbury’s said in a statement yesterday.
It noted that “further investment in technology and automation” meant it needed fewer centres for sorting and packaging food.
Chief executive Simon Roberts said: “Our Next Level Sainsbury’s strategy is about giving customers more of what they come to Sainsbury’s for - outstanding value, unbeatable quality food and great service.
“One of the ways we’re going to deliver on this promise is through our Save and Invest to Win programme.
“As we move into the next phase of our strategy, we are making some difficult, but necessary decisions.
“The proposals we’ve been talking to teams about today are important to ensure we’re better set up to focus on the things that create a real impact for our customers, delivering good food for all of us and building a platform for growth.
Supermarkets, meanwhile, are increasingly installing self-service checkouts.
Elsewhere yesterday, the UK arm of The Body Shop cosmetics group confirmed the loss of nearly 500 jobs with the closure of about 75 shops following recent poor sales.