The intention was to give the chain better control of supplier-to-store replenishment, as well as cutting replenishment time and stockholding.
Sales forecasting became centralised and was integrated with warehouse management. The retailer INVESTED heavily in data mining tools to extract and extrapolate information gathered from its reward-card scheme.
What surprises others in the industry is that Sainsbury's thought such software could work, given the fact that food retailing encompasses many more variables than other products, and higher stockholding is regarded as a necessity.
Robert Brent, supermarket analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, says: "Accenture [its technology consultants] delivered a system for food retailing that was far too exacting given the variables. It was trying to use a just-in-time system with food where there are just too many uncertainties involved.