Sainsbury’s is hiring 12,000 seasonal roles to help fulfil online grocery orders in the lead up to Christmas.
The retailer has recruited almost double the number of roles it did last year. The seasonal staff will include delivery drivers, while others will be picking and packing products in store.
Sainsbury’s is also offering extra hours to existing colleagues who may want extra work in the run-up to Christmas.
The supermarket said it is set to hire a total of 75,000 people by March 2021, including creating 6,000 permanent roles, the majority of which will support the rapid growth of Sainsbury’s Groceries Online. The expansion of online groceries offers colleagues affected by the closure of meat, fish and deli counters and some Argos stores, the opportunity to redeploy, Sainsbury’s says.
Earlier this month Sainsbury’s announced the closure of around 420 Argos stores and all of its meat, fish and deli counters.
The retailer said it also offers rapid food deliveries from Chop Chop, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Sainsbury’s has expanded its own Chop Chop service to 15 cities and boosted it further through third party tie-ups.
This year Sainsbury’s says it has more than doubled its Groceries Online capacity. The retailer will fulfil over 750,000 online grocery orders a week this December, either by delivering to customers’ doors or through Click & Collect. Over 200 more supermarkets are offering Click & Collect than they were in March.
Clo Moriarty, Sainsbury’s retail and digital director, said: “This Christmas will be like no other and the way customers want to shop for their celebrations has changed completely. To help them find everything they need and shop how they want, we’re recruiting thousands more Christmas colleagues than in previous years. The roles will receive the highest rate of pay of the major supermarkets while supporting in our superstores and helping fulfil online grocery orders, where we’ve more than doubled capacity since March.
“We’re doing everything we can to make Christmas special for our customers and we’re asking them to play their part by shopping early and shopping alone, wherever possible. This will really help everyone spend less time queuing and more time celebrating.”
To help shoppers spend less time in its stores, Sainsbury’s has rolled out SmartShop Mobile Pay to over 1,100 supermarkets and convenience stores. The technology provides till-free and contactless shopping. In March just nine Sainsbury’s Locals offered the technology to customers.
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