Online Retailer of the Year - Sainsbury's at the double with 20% online growth

It’s been a year to remember for Sainsbury’s. Its sponsorship of the Paralympics was a runaway success and store sales growth was impressive - certainly compared with the rest of the big four. But Sainsbury’s also had another great year online to take this award for the second year running.

The numbers speak for themselves. Sainsburys.co.uk grew sales by over 20%, well ahead of the market, and the judges were impressed by the range of developments implemented by Sainsbury’s to improve sales, customer experience and efficiency.

The service has become bigger and better, with more people now able to shop on Sainsburys.co.uk, as it has grown its population coverage from 95.5% to 96.3%, while the range of products available has grown to include more than 1,500 lines of general merchandise - mainly household and kitchen essentials.

It has also added early morning delivery slots to make it easier for shoppers to receive their groceries before heading off to work in the morning, and updated the website so shoppers waste little time looking for their favourite items.

At the same time, Sainsbury’s maintained its high standards, reporting excellent customer satisfaction levels and improved levels of availability. This helped the supermarket pick up a string of Online Grocer 33 wins.

It also worked hard to improve the efficiency of its operation, from the use of new tote trollies for improved picking in-store to new, lighter vans enabling bigger loads to be taken and an increased number of drops per trip.