Big Four grocer Sainsbury‘s has announced its plans to trial a new supermarket design at six of its stores across the UK.  

In response to new shopping trends, Sainsbury‘s has said that the changes will include a “radically different” supermarket layout in addition to an increased range of checkout facilities.  

Sainsbury‘s commented that the trialled changes have been made to cater for its customers‘ “specific shopping missions”. Further changes comprise of a new ‘Food to Go‘ section alongside the fresh bakery products at the front of the store next to the checkouts.  

Additionally, the supermarket chain will dedicate more space in its stores for its Tu clothing range and its kitchen and homeware items. The amount of space allocated to non-food in the trial stores has been increased by around 30%.  

Another significant change will involve the introduction of two new types of checkout which will essentially offer customers four different checkout options. Resultantly, in addition to the already functioning manned checkouts and self-checkouts for basket shoppers, Sainsbury‘s will offer customers a larger self-checkout for those with small trollies.  

Within two stores, the Sainsbury‘s shopping app ‘SmartShop‘ will pilot. The app will allow customers to scan in their shopping lists before going to the store, receive a map locating their chosen items and eventually pay via their mobile phone.  

Mike Coupe, Chief Executive of Sainsbury‘s, explained: “The majority of people still do most of their shopping in supermarkets and that‘s a trend that will continue, but we need to make our supermarkets more convenient for people who visit often to do a smaller shop. 

“This trial is about seeing how far we can go in catering for every shopping mission, whether someone wants to pop in quickly to buy a sandwich for lunch, or whether they have more time and want inspiration for the home, or advice on tech and gadgets. No matter what customers are buying,