Impact of Technology on Sainsbury's

The impact that developments in technology have had on Sainsbury’s

Image reference: https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/news/latest-news/2021/04-03-21-savings-to-invest-in-food

Sainsbury’s is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the UK. It is so big, that at the end of 2019 it shared roughly 16% of the whole supermarket sector. Over the years, they have used computing and technology to develop their company and make it more efficient.

Supermarkets like Sainsbury’s use a system known as EPOS to help monitor their stock, keep track of their sales analysis, gather data from customers which use loyalty cards etc. Using EPOS helps the supermarket keep a digital track of everything allowing them to be updated often. Self-checkout tills are also included without EPOS, and it's made sure that more devices are working in peak times which would help save Sainsbury's save money instead of them spending extra money training staff for the job.

Self-checkout tills

Self-checkout tills are seen in almost all supermarkets that you enter today. They are tills that do not require staff to scan the items but the customer instead. The customer scans the items, put them onto a scale on the side, and then finally pays for the item. All of this is conducted using a touchscreen above the scanner.

Self-checkout tills require less staff to operate. At Sainsbury’s one member of staff can operate up to a handful of self-checkout machines specifically if a customer needs assistance with one of them. The typical impact that self-checkout tills have had on Sainsbury’s is mainly shifting around of staff members. As previous tills needed one staff member per one normal till, now it is only one staff for a few self-checkout tills. If Sainsbury’s had too many staff members when self-checkout tills were implemented, then some staff member would have had to be made redundant.

It’s important that in the self-checkout tills security is high as there could be risks of products being stolen. To prevent any products from being stolen Sainsbury’s have chosen to use security cameras near the checkout tills and security guards to make sure that nothing is being stolen.

Positive impacts of self-checkout tills:

·        Checking out is quicker à As the items that are usually scanned in self-checkout tills are less than an average shopper who goes to a normal till managed by a staff member, the time of checkout is quicker. The flow of customer queues would’ve changed drastically.

·        Reduction in labour costs à Self-checkout is said to save money since it eliminates the need for a cashier at each register. Retailers such as Sainsbury’s are able to split since one staff member can easily oversee 6-10 self-service registers.

Negative impacts of self-checkout tills:

·        Increase risk of theft à Theft is more likely at self-checkout tills since there are fewer staff monitoring them. Consider introducing new security measures in conjunction with self-checkout.

·        Less human interaction à The loss of human touch is a key worry for both consumers and company owners when it comes to self-checkout. Many shops rely on cashiers to upsell consumers on more expensive items.

SmartShop

The SmartShop app allows customers to pay for products from anywhere inside the supermarket with their smartphones. The benefits of using the app are that customers don’t have to wait in the queue and payment can be done online. Customers waiting in line at Sainsbury's will be able to reserve a virtual position in line from home or anywhere else using the app. Sainsbury's continues to expand the wide range of stores where customers can use the personal SmartShop Mobile Pay App. Customers can use the app to check their purchases, which they can% by placing it in their cart or cart. They then pay through the app at a chosen increase factor, without having to queue for a normal increase.

Advantages of using SmartShop:

·        Customers can avoid queues at the till

·        Registers barcodes quickly à Allows you to scan the product, pay and go making it very easy to use.

·        No minimum spends to use SmartShop à This is one of the biggest advantages as you can spend how much ever you want when shopping with Sainsbury’s

Disadvantages of using SmartShop:

·        Customers must have a nectar card à This may put customers off from using the service as you are not able to use SmartShop without having a nectar card which is registered.

·        Must have Apple pay or Google pay à Without having Apple pay or Google pay on your device then it makes it difficult to use the system as the system requires you to pay using either of those two options.

E-commerce/online shopping

Allowing customers to shop online has also made a huge change in the sector. Customers are able to shop online via the app or website and have their shopping delivered to them which would allow them to pay via the app or website and not have to wait for the queue in the store. Sainsbury’s also allow you to click and collect items making it easy for customers to just order and pay for their item, so they are just able to go collect it in the store. Customers can also choose a delivery slot for when they want their delivery to come through. Online shopping has benefited Sainsbury’s as they need more drivers to deliver the items to the customers resident which means they have needed to employee more staff.

To sum up, all of the above initiatives have made the way of working more efficient at Sainsbury’s and has caused a lot of changes to be made. This suggests that technology has had a positive impact on Sainsbury’s.

References

1)      https://www.kantarworldpanel.com/en/grocery-market-share/great-britain/snapshot/29.12.19/

2)      https://www.cardfellow.com/blog/self-checkout-should-you-implement-it/

3)      https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/news/a27390904/sainsburys-till-free-grocery-store/

Risks related to implementing a new computer system in Sainsbury’s

As Sainsbury’s implement more new computer systems, there can be many risks related to the implementation and can have a significant impact on the company if these risks are breached.

Security considerations

When Sainsbury’s implement new computer systems, they must ensure that they are aware of the security risks that come along with the new systems. This is because security will always be an issue even in the future as hackers are adapting with the new systems and are learning about how these systems can be exploited. When Sainsbury’s implemented the self-service tills, they would’ve had to ensure that there are security measures that will prevent customers from stealing any products from the supermarkets.

Criminals

Data theft of destruction:

In today’s society, there are always hackers that are trying to get into big companies via their systems and this will continue in the future. A popular aim when doing this is stealing or even destroying the data of the company.

Sainsbury’s have very sensitive data which compose of personal and financial information for a huge population of their customers. This is why they need to always be on the look out for any hackers that are trying to access their network and have surveillance that is running 24 hours a day and 7 days a week as hackers can strike at any time. Sainsbury’s would have a team of employees that do this working in shifts.

Fraud:

The reason why fraud can be a very popular thing to do is because it is a very low risk activity. For example, if someone was to send someone a phishing email, there is a very low risk of them getting prosecuted and an even lower risk if they are in another country.

It is likely that the IT side of Sainsbury’s probably get a lot of phishing emails on a daily basis. The employees at Sainsbury’s need to be trained on what a phishing email looks like and what sort of things to look out for when they get a suspicious email. One thing that Sainsbury’s can do is get their IT team to send out a fake phishing email that won’t actually do any harm to test employees and see if they would click on it.

Denial of service:

To prevent Sainsbury’s from being attacked with the method of “Denial of Service”, they must ensure that they have adapted and updated their network security to the latest patches. This is because these types of attacks get more complex, and it requires for the network to be changed to be able to defend against it. If Sainsbury’s was attacked using this method, then many customers would be having a very unpleasant experience and would not be able to get what they want on the website. This can possibly lead to a loss of customers for Sainsbury’s.

Blackmail:

There is always a chance that a high role employee at Sainsbury’s can be prone to being blackmailed. The criminal could force that specific employee to obtain private information which if they don’t obtain for them, they would launch an attack on Sainsbury’s website. They could also simply ask for money from Sainsbury’s instead of private information. A popular type of blackmail attack is a ransomware attack. This is when an organisation is taken over by hackers and a ransom has to be paid for the takeover to be lifted (sometimes the hackers still wouldn’t budge even if they have been paid the full ransom).

Maintaining compatibility:

When systems in Sainsbury’s are developed, they must make sure that they are compatible for any new versions of the software. Maintaining compatibility can be difficult for Sainsbury’s as they need to have all the internal and external systems working properly for it to work on new and older versions of the software.

At times software won’t be compatible with different versions of the system because of the changes in the versions. On most of the old systems will not work on the newer systems as a lot of work will be needed to change. Internal systems can have an affect Sainsbury’s because the use of their technology has grown and changed the way they allow users to do their shopping. For example, older mobile devices won’t be compatible to download the SmartShop app on their device because the app isn’t compatible to that device. However, the newer versions of mobile devices are all compatible for this to work. It’s important Sainsbury’s check its compatibility to a range of software to have many more customers.

External systems can happen to be expensive if the technology department staff are working from home as it will require them to update their hardware/software more often which would mean an increase in cost. But this is a great way to stay ahead of any competition for Sainsbury’s as they will be using better hardware/ software.

Reliability:

It’s important for Sainsbury’s to check how reliable the system is and to have the system fully tested before letting users use the system. Because Sainsbury’s system is large and complex it’s crucial that they thoroughly go through the system and make sure the testing is detailed and is completed sufficiently to eradicate any errors or fix any if there is any in the system before letting users use it. By having Sainsbury’s system looked over helps to know how reliable the system is when it’s being used by customers. The entire system needs to be viewed to ensure everything will work correctly in complex situations.

Risks:

Implementing a new computer system can have many risks. There are different steps which should be followed by Sainsbury’s such as analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation. All these stages should be followed in order. Analysing the system is important in order to find out what the current system needs to for it to be improved and what the system will be used for. The second stage; design is where a requirement specification is needed which means creating a list of everything such as the hardware, software, inputs, outputs, and processes will take place. A test plan is also needed in the design stage in order to show exactly how the system will be tested. The third stage; implementation is key as this is where you write the programs and complete the user documentation. The final stage which is evaluation is important because this allows you to give information about how it can be maintained. The evaluation will only take place once the system has been installed and checked if it is working correctly or not. 

Evaluating the impact that implementing a new computer system can have on an organisation

When Sainsbury’s implement new computer systems, they can bring about ethical, environmental, communications, and employment impacts. Some impacts can be positive whereas some can be negative on Sainsbury’s.

Social impacts

Social networking:

As social media use increases, it is becoming a distraction for many people. In addition, social media platforms are accessible from mobile phones which means that employees of Sainsbury’s can access it whenever they want. If the employees use social media too much at the workplace in Sainsbury’s it can have a bad effect on the productivity of Sainsbury’s and the employee can have serious consequences including being fired from their job at Sainsbury’s.

Businesses such as Sainsbury’s may use social media to form more meaningful relationships and learn more about potential customers. A company may develop a fan following and collect feedback from its target market. It has the potential to open up new channels of traffic that will drive people to their products and strengthen their brand identification in the eyes of the customer.

Decrease in social skills:

The use of mobile phones and linking them with consoles is also increasing. This means that users can access games much more than before. This leads to addictions to games. When employees at Sainsbury’s get addicted to gaming, it can affect their social skills a lot. Particularly, it will affect their health and therefore they will underperform at the workplace of Sainsbury’s. For example, due to less sleep, they will feel more tired when working at Sainsbury’s whether the employee is doing physical work by filling shelves or on the IT side of Sainsbury’s.

Employees of Sainsbury’s may not be able to interact with other people as efficiently due to them not talking to people face to face as much. This is why when people overuse their technology devices and don’t talk to people face to face enough, they can sometimes get anxiety when having to interact with people. This is because they are so used to talking to people over voice chats or texting.

Maintaining contacts:

As technology has grown, it has allowed people to communicate through phone calls and video calls. As Sainsbury’s have many offices that are far apart from each other, employees are still able to communicate with people from offices that are miles away from them. During the Covid-19 phase, a lot of meetings would’ve been held on video conference software’s like Zoom, Google Meet etc. This allows Sainsbury’s to maintain communication with all their offices and also maintain their contacts.

Employment and business impact

New opportunities:

The online marketplace can allow Sainsbury’s to target their products at specific people. This is known as marketing. Advertisements can be made and targeted to certain people that are likely to have an interest in the product. This can have a positive impact on Sainsbury’s as they can acquire more customers from this. Marketing also makes a company more known depending on how many people the adverts reach. The more money that is invested into ads, the more likely it is for Sainsbury’s to get recognition and possibly new customers. Facebook can have a good impact on Sainsbury’s as they can use Facebook to release ads and target them to the right individuals who would be interested as a lot of people in the elder generation use Facebook.

There may be new prospects for Salisbury's, such as simpler, faster, and more effective communication, improved production procedures, and new sales routes, all of which would be very beneficial to Sainsbury's.

Conclusion

Overall, the impact of technology is fairly good. There are some negatives, but they are easily outweighed by the positive impacts. I believe that if technology is used carefully, Sainsbury’s can continue to elevate as a business and meet their customers’ demands. However, if technology that Sainsbury’s have is not up to date or emerging, it can be difficult to compete with other supermarkets that have these advanced technologies. This is because they will be able to do their business a lot more efficiently and with a lot less money.