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Sainsbury's glitch leaves shelves empty
London stores affected by error in stock replenishing system…

By Andy McCue

Published: Friday 07 January 2005

Frustrated shoppers have been faced with empty shelves in some of supermarket chain Sainsbury's central London stores this week because of an error with its computer forecasting system.

The affected stores were closed over the Christmas period and a combination of human and technical error meant the stock replenishing system failed to re-order fresh produce when the stores opened up after the New Year.

Customers were faced with empty shelves with notices apologising for the "poor availability of fresh food lines".

Three silicon.com readers confirmed the situation saying lots of everyday items had run out or were in short supply at one of the London stores.

A statement issued by Sainsbury's said: "There is an isolated problem in some of our central London stores that closed over the Christmas period and most of these stores will be fully recovered before the weekend."

The glitch is not related, however, to existing problems with the supermarket's £3bn supply chain system that led to Sainsbury's taking a £290m hit before Christmas. Sainsbury's CEO Justin King has put the brakes on new IT development on the back of that and is trying to turn the situation round, and a third-quarter trading update on is due next week.