By Saabira Chaudhuri
LONDON--J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) said Tuesday that it plans to
expand its "click-and-collect" service, allowing customers to pick
up online purchases from vans outside its stores.
The U.K.'s third-largest supermarket chain by market share said
in June that it was launching click-and-collect from seven subway
stations in London, but on Tuesday a spokeswoman for Sainsbury told
The Wall Street Journal that the retailer had since closed five of
these locations due to a lack of demand.
Sainsbury instead is pushing into click-and-collect from its
stores. It said the first collection sites would be up and running
at stores this month, with 100 stores offering the collection
service by the end of the year.
While the service is free, customers need to spend a minimum of
GBP20 ($30.71) to use it.
Sainsbury will implement the program by using refrigerated vans
manned by a staff member that will be parked outside stores.
The latest moves come as competition heats up in the U.K.
grocery industry to give customers a more convenient shopping
experience. Supermarkets have been opening a raft of smaller-format
stores in busy locations. They have also increased their investment
in online delivery and click-and-collect as they aim to
differentiate themselves from discounters Aldi Stores Ltd. and Lidl
U.K. GmbH, which offer neither home delivery nor click-and-collect,
and fend off competition from online-only grocer Ocado Group PLC
(OCDO.LN).
Mainstream rivals Tesco Corp. (TESO) and Asda, the British arm
of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), also offer click-and-collect
services.
Data published last year from the Institute of Grocery
Distribution, the U.K. food industry's research arm, predicted that
online would be the fastest-growing part of the U.K. grocery market
over the next few years. The institute estimated that online sales
would more than double in value to GBP17 billion by 2019, boosted
by a surge in the use of home delivery and click-and-collect
services.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
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