Sainsbury’s completes HRG acquisition
Sainsbury’s has completed its acquisition of Home Retail Group – the owner of Argos and Habitat. In a statement issued on Friday (2 September), Mike Coupe, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “The combination of Sainsbury’s and Home Retail Group creates one of the UK’s largest food and non–food retailers, offering customers over 90,000 products in over 2,000 stores and across market leading digital channels, employing 195,000 colleagues across the UK and Ireland.”
As previously reported, one of the key attractions to Sainsbury’s of a tie-up with HRG was the synergies that could follow on from the combination its own delivery infrastructure with that of Argos.
John Rogers, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s Argos, brought this aspect of the deal to fore in his official comment on the deal closure: “The way people shop is changing – customers expect choice, convenience, flexibility, fast delivery and to shop whenever and wherever they want. I am excited about leading the newly formed Sainsburys Argos management team. Our customers will benefit from great quality products and services and fast delivery networks, so whether customers want home delivery, Click & Collect or to visit our stores, we will make it easy and convenient for them.”
