Editing Sainsbury's (section)

==='Making Sainsbury's Great Again' (2004–2006)===
[[File:J Sainsbury HQ 1.jpg|thumb|J Sainsbury HQ in [[Holborn]] photographed in 2005; the surrounding area has since changed dramatically]]

At the end of March 2004, Davis was promoted to chairman and was replaced as CEO by [[Justin King (businessman)|Justin King]]. King joined Sainsbury's from [[Marks & Spencer]] where he was a director with responsibility for its food division and Kings Super Markets, Inc. subsidiary in the United States.<ref name="jskingbio">{{cite press release|title=Sainsbury's appoints new Group Chief Executive|publisher=J Sainsbury plc|date=19 November 2003|url=http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?PageID=418&subsection=&Year=2003&NewsID=374|access-date=28 October 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925172202/http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=418|archive-date=25 September 2006 }}</ref> Schooled in Solihull near Birmingham, and a graduate of the University of Bath, where he took a business administration degree, King was also previously a managing director at Asda with responsibility for hypermarkets.<ref name="jskingbio" />

In June 2004, Davis was forced to quit in the face of an impending shareholder revolt, over his salary and bonuses. Investors were angered by a bonus share award of over £2&nbsp;million, despite poor company performance. On 19 July 2004, Davis' replacement Philip Hampton was appointed as chairman.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sainsbury retreats on boss's bonus|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3877373.stm|work=BBC News|date=8 July 2004|access-date=9 November 2008|archive-date=21 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221074110/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3877373.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

King ordered a direct mail campaign to one&nbsp;million Sainsbury's customers as part of his six-month business review, asking them what they wanted from the company and where the company could improve. This reaffirmed the commentary of retail analysts: the group was not ensuring that shelves were fully stocked, due to the failure of the IT systems introduced by [[Sir Peter Davis|Peter Davis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://prezi.com/yxxfdjfdimlb/sainsburys-warehouse-automation-project-failure-2003-2005/|title=Sainsbury's Warehouse Automation project failure 2003–2005|first=Shyama|last=Chandani|date=18 September 2013|publisher=Prezi|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=12 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412142733/https://prezi.com/yxxfdjfdimlb/sainsburys-warehouse-automation-project-failure-2003-2005/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 19 October 2004, King unveiled the results of the business review and his plans to revive the company's fortunes, in a three-year recovery plan entitled 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again'.<ref name="basics">{{cite news|title=Sainsbury's heads back to basics|work=BBC News|date=19 October 2004|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3755066.stm|access-date=9 October 2008|archive-date=19 May 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519092412/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3755066.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

This was generally well received by both the stock market and the media. Immediate plans included laying off over 750 headquarters staff, and the recruitment of around 3,000 shop floor staff, to improve the quality of service and address the firm's main problem: stock availability. The aim would be to increase sales revenue by £2.5&nbsp;billion by the financial year ending March 2008. Another significant announcement was the halving of the [[dividend]] to increase funds available for price cuts and quality.<ref name="basics" />

King hired Lawrence Christensen as supply chain director in 2004. Previously he was an expert in logistics at [[Safeway (UK)|Safeway]], but left following its takeover by [[Morrisons]]. Immediate supply chain improvements included the reactivation of two distribution centres. At the time of the business review on 19 October 2004, referring to the availability problems, Justin King said "Lawrence hadn't seen anything that he hadn't seen before. He just hadn't seen them all in the same place at the same time".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2897642/Sainsburys-halves-dividend-as-it-heads-for-losses-of-58m.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2897642/Sainsburys-halves-dividend-as-it-heads-for-losses-of-58m.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Sainsbury's halves dividend as it heads for losses of £58m|date=20 October 2004|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=11 April 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2006, Christensen commented on the four automated depots introduced by Davis, saying "not a single day went by without one, if not all of them, breaking down... The systems were flawed. They have to stop for four hours every day for maintenance. But because they were constantly breaking down you would be playing catch up. It was a vicious circle."<ref name="depots" /> Christensen said a fundamental mistake was to build four such depots at once, rather than building one which could be thoroughly tested before progressing with the others.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sarah|last=Butler|title=Sainsbury's takes stock of itself after a year of tents and bunkers|work=[[The Times]]|date=8 October 2005}}</ref>

In 2007, Sainsbury's announced a further £12&nbsp;million investment in its depots to keep pace with sales growth and the removal of the failed automated systems from its depots.<ref name="revampdepots">{{cite news|first=Sarah|last=Butler|title=Sainsbury's to revamp depots as sales grow faster than forecast|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9074-2543269,00.html|work=[[The Times]]|date=12 January 2007|access-date=9 February 2007|location=London|archive-date=19 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719015252/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition, it did a deal with IBM to upgrade its Electronic Point of Sale systems as a result of increased sales.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.retail-week.com/technology/sainsburys-to-lift-pos-signage-with-new-system/5001868.article|title=Sainsbury's to lift PoS signage with new system|date=15 April 2009|work=Retail Week|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=12 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412062849/https://www.retail-week.com/technology/sainsburys-to-lift-pos-signage-with-new-system/5001868.article|url-status=live}}</ref>

Sainsbury's sold its subsidiary in America, Shaw's, to [[New Albertsons, Inc.|Albertsons]] in March 2004.<ref>{{cite news|last=Potter|first=Mark|author2=Carew, Sinead|title=Sainsbury warns on profit as it checks out of U.S.|agency=Reuters|date=26 March 2004|url=http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/040326/80/epk5d.html|access-date=11 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041102154730/http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/040326/80/epk5d.html|archive-date=2 November 2004}}</ref> Also in 2004 Sainsbury's expanded its share of the [[convenience shop]] market through acquisitions.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Sainsbury's announces acquisition of convenience store operator|publisher=J Sainsbury plc|date=29 April 2005|url=http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?PageID=424&subsection=&Year=2005&NewsID=539|access-date=11 October 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927035215/http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?PageID=424&subsection=&Year=2005&NewsID=539|archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref>

After the launch of King's recovery programme, the company reported nineteen consecutive quarters of sales growth, most recently in October 2009.<ref name="janquarter">{{cite news|first=Angela|last=Jameson|title=Sainsbury's sales rise defies retail gloom|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article3163999.ece|work=[[The Times]]|date=10 January 2008|access-date=10 January 2008|location=London|archive-date=11 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611211011/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article3163999.ece|url-status=dead}}</ref> Early sales increases were credited to solving problems with the company's distribution system.<ref>{{cite news|title=Improved supply lifts Sainsbury's|work=BBC News|date=24 March 2005|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4378035.stm|access-date=11 October 2006|archive-date=11 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060311065916/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4378035.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Later sales improvements were put down to price cuts and the company's focus on fresh and healthy food.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sanderson|first=Rachel|title=Healthy foods help Sainsbury sales top forecasts|agency=Reuters|date=11 October 2006|url=https://collagenpro.com/healthy-foods-help-sainsbury-sales-top-forecasts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014080754/https://collagenpro.com/healthy-foods-help-sainsbury-sales-top-forecasts/|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 October 2019|access-date=11 October 2006 }}</ref>