It was an 'unexpected challenge', he said.
The CEO of Sainsbury’s has apologised after a technical issue led to the cancellation of thousands of online grocery deliveries.
The supermarket giant said an overnight software update meant the ‘vast majority’ of online orders couldn’t be fulfilled on Saturday.
However, the glitch caused further chaos as some stores couldn’t accept contactless payments, meaning shoppers had to use a physical bank card or cash.
Shoppers were left in the dark as the technical issues meant Sainsbury’s couldn’t contact customers directly.
In a statement emailed to customers today, chief executive Simon Robert confirmed the grocery delivery service is ‘back online’ and shoppers can tap away just fine at the tills again.
He said: ‘I want to apologise to you and every customer that has been affected by the issue and to thank you for your patience and for bearing with us.
‘I really understand how important it is for everyone to be able to shop with us conveniently and easily, whenever and however you want to, and I am sorry if you have not received your usual service from Sainsbury’s this weekend.’
Any customers who faced empty cupboards over the weekend because their online grocery shop never arrived can ‘place a new order now for a delivery any time from tomorrow’.
‘We will automatically add a voucher to your online wallet in the next few days to apologise for the invoice,’ Robert said.
Sainsbury’s contact centre teams are ‘working very hard to do everything they can to help customers who have been affected by the issue and need further assistance’
Staff, he stressed, ‘worked hard’ to resolve the technical hiccup.
‘I’m proud of the way all our team have stepped up to manage the unexpected challenge that we know so many of our customers have experienced this weekend,’ the CEO said.
Argos, the catalogue shop owned by Sainsbury’s, also saw orders impacted by the software update.
A small number of Tesco shoppers were hit by an unrelated technical bug that meant deliveries never arrived on Saturday. In-store shopping wasn’t impacted.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
