Sainsbury's is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16.9% share of the supermarket sector in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869, by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company became the largest grocery retailer in 1922, was an early adopter of self-service retailing in the United Kingdom, and had its heyday during the 1980s. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's to become the market leader, and Asda became the second largest in 2003, demoting Sainsbury's to third place for most of the subsequent period until January 2014, when Sainsbury's regained second place.
Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer, where people love to work and shop. We’ll do this by putting our customers at the heart of everything we do and investing in our stores, our colleagues and our channels to offer the best possible shopping experience.
We want to be known for doing the right thing, for our customers, our colleagues, our communities, our suppliers and our planet. How? By sticking to our values and commitments.
These aren’t just empty promises to make us look good. We’ve reviewed and relaunched our sustainability plan and have publically stated where and how we believe we can make a positive impact on the economy, the environment and society. We’re addressing the most significant issues faced by our customers, colleagues, stakeholders and business and, by 2020, we believe we will have made a tangible difference.
In a highly competitive industry, our values make us different and make strong commercial sense. Our values help us strengthen relationships with all our stakeholders, build trust, reduce operating costs, mitigate risks and attract and retain talent in a crowded marketplace.