CEO introduction
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With over 19 million customers visiting our stores each week, 150,000 colleagues and in excess of 2,000 suppliers, Sainsbury’s has a real impact on the economy, environment and society.
Our values underpin our goal to provide healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food at fair prices. These values are at the heart of our business; they determine our priorities and guide us in ensuring that we conduct ourselves in an honest, ethical and sustainable manner.
We operate in a challenging commercial environment and while many of our customers are increasingly price-conscious, they are not prepared to compromise on the values and principles that they believe in. We know they want us to make it easier for them to shop ethically and sustainably so we’re making every effort to live up to their expectations and exceed them if we can. This is why we’re so pleased to have been recognised by the Consumer Focus ‘Green to the Core’ survey, which praised our engagement with customers on green issues. It also recognised our excellent sustainable farming and fish policies, as well as the high proportion of sustainable products available in our stores.
As we look forward, there is an increasingly complex set of issues that we will need to address for our business, our customers, the environment and the communities in which we operate. The right thing to do is rarely clear cut, as good intentions in one area can create unintended consequences in another. It’s also an agenda that’s constantly evolving. We must work collaboratively with our colleagues, customers, stakeholders and industry experts to develop forward-thinking programmes that are aligned with our core values and that help our customers enjoy excellent quality food at affordable prices.
In such a period of uncertainty and economic recession, we are really proud of what we have achieved over the past year. Our industry-leading positions in Fairtrade, Freedom Food and Marine Stewardship Council fish are real and tangible accomplishments. Likewise, our work on energy efficiency and sending zero food waste to landfill demonstrates environmental leadership and in many cases has also helped us to achieve significant cost savings. We continue to ensure that internal programmes like ‘You Can’ make it possible for our own people to develop new skills and an even wider range of new recruits to join us. Finally, our sponsorship of the Paralympics, the UK school games and our support of Comic Relief ensure that we continue to make a positive difference to all our communities, wherever they are.
The values on which our company was founded in 1869 remain the same today. Through our commitments to Corporate Responsibility we are ensuring that these values will continue at the heart of our business for many years to come.
Justin King
Chief Executive
Chair of CR Steering Group
