The new hires of Sainsbury's will include software developers and engineers
Reuters
Sainsbury's in an effort to gain market share in the fast
growing online space is increasing its digital and technology headcount.
The UK supermarket chain is hiring 150 employees to make its online
store better and to help it battle the rising competition from other
online retailers such as Amazon and Tesco.
The new hires will include software developers and engineers
and they will work out of its office in Manchester's Arndale centre.
Sainsbury's already has 900 other digital and technology experts across
its London and Coventry offices.
This follows the company's recent acquisition of Argos
owner Home Retail Group (HRG). At the time of acquisition, it had said
the deal would help boost its online business and believed it would also
help diversify the retailer from the highly competitive food retail
business. "[The combined companies would create] a leading food and
non-food retailer of choice for customers, building on the strong
heritage of both the Sainsbury's and HRG businesses whose brands are
renowned for trust, quality, value and customer service," it had said.
Jon Rudoe, the digital and technology director at
Sainsbury's, said: "The world is changing rapidly. Our vision is for
Sainsbury's to have a world-class digital and technology function to
ensure that we can deliver great services for our customers whenever and
wherever they want to shop with us."
Rudoe added that Manchester was considered because it was
the largest technology hub in the country, after London. The expansion
of digital and technology experts by Sainsbury's is not new. In the past year alone it has doubled its staff in this domain by hiring 480 experts, according to The Guardian.
Other retailers who are stepping up their game in the online shopping
space include John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. They too have
setup technology hubs to improve their websites and to battle better the
online competition.
Post a Comment