Comment: Sainsbury's online clothing pilot should click with its customers

Sainsbury’s decision to pilot clothing online is as a long-awaited move by the grocer and a good 20 years after it first launched a clothing collection.

Sainsbury’s lateness in developing its online fashion platform has put it leagues behind competitors Asda and Tesco. Yet Sainsbury’s is adamant it has just been waiting for the ‘right time’, and now that time has finally arrived.

In view of this, it’s helpful to look at some of the other steps Sainsbury’s has taken.

Last year, the retailer celebrated reaching a £1bn landmark in annual grocery sales online. Just last week it revealed plans to let customers click-and-collect from local underground station carparks.

With the announcement to sell clothing online coming just a few days later, this demonstrates not only Sainsbury’s sustained commitment to e-commerce innovation but also a move towards aligning the availability of its non-food offer with its core grocery proposition. 

Furthermore, whilst Sainsbury’s site has so far not sold the Tu label online, it has been promoted it, particularly by capitalising on the style credentials of celebrity collaborator Gok Wan. Social media campaigns have also built up anticipation and stimulated demand for the value-level brand. 

Sainsbury’s has so far concentrated on building up the categories which most matter to its family-orientated customers. For example, its ‘Back to School’ campaigns are already hugely successful, but the added convenience of being able to purchase childrenswear along with the weekly shop will be much appreciated by parents for whom home delivery and click-and-collect is an essential time-saving facility when trying to juggle all the demands of family life. The exclusion of this from the site likely means it has lost uniform sales to Asda’s George and tesco’s F&Franges, which already provide this service.

The addition of clothing to the online shopping channel also demonstrates a response to changing consumer habits.

One of the biggest shifts we are seeing in the supermarket sector is the demand for maximum flexibility. In short, this is becoming a convenience market. What this means is that grocers are being pushed to expand their multichannels at a lightning rate, from online to local grab-and-go networks to supersized full-offer formats.

To continue without a clothing offer online would have been detrimental to Sainsbury’s competitive strategy in a climate where key competitors already have strong multi-category, multichannel propositions. 

In the past it would have been tempting to say the Sainsbury’s clothing offer falls far short of the mark compared to its supermarket rivals.

In fact, as recently as the start of last year it would have been difficult to assert that Tu’s menswear was comprehensive enough to compete with those of George and F&F.

However, in the space of a year, this has visibly improved, meaning the fashion offer is no longer perceptibly exclusive to women and children.

A high level of creative energy and investment has gone into transforming the Tu brand, with Sainsbury’s doubling its design team in preparation for its relaunch last year.

Whilst there is still scope for improvement – for example, expanding from a predominantly casualwear focus to capturing all occasions – the range is at least comprehensive enough to entice browsing customers to dwell on the page and, with any luck, make a purchase.

• Anusha Couttigane is senior fashion consultant at Conlumino