Supermarket Sainsbury‘s has renewed its contract with multichannel logistics provider iForce, it has been announced.
Having helped with the introduction of a Click & Collect service into more than 900 Sainsbury‘s stores since the partnership began in September 2009, iForce will now continue to work with the retailer until April 2014.
Non-food returns are processed at iForce‘s Corby distribution centre, which also handles the online fulfilment of all Sainsbury‘s general merchandise orders.
Commenting on the contract extension, iForce CEO Mark Hewitt said: “We are delighted to have extended our relationship with Sainsbury‘s and look forward to creating additional solutions that will assist their ongoing growth in this retail space for the next two years and beyond.”
Multichannel sales soared for many grocers over Christmas as rival supermarket Tesco saw online sales grow by 18 per cent year-on-year during the festive season and fulfilled over half a million food orders in the week before Christmas.
Sainsbury‘s recorded 15 per cent growth in its online business over the third quarter, with 60 per cent of general merchandise orders being collected through the Click & Collect service.
Colin Young, Sainsbury‘s General Manger for Direct Logistics concluded: “We have a very productive relationship with iForce, drawing on their experience in this particular retail environment and are delighted to extend the existing partnership for a further two years.”
