"It's the Business" programme, 7 September 1999

Recording of "It's the Business" programme for Sainsbury's staff (mainly store management teams). "It's the Business" was the anchor business television programme on the "SMART" network (Sainsbury's Management and Retail Television). This programme was broadcast live on 7 September 1999 by satellite to Sainsbury's stores, depots and offices. It was presented by John Howard in the studio.

Contents:
1. Introduction by presenter John Howard.
2. Studio interview with Ken Barden about: recent press coverage which alleged there was a rift between some of Sainsbury’s senior executives; sales trends; recent successes (eg West Hove refitted store, Bourne store opening); dealing with the availability problem; competition for staff.
3. Nigel Broome (Departmental Director, HR Operations) talks about the issue of band E staff applying for assistant manager roles and concerns on what happens if they don’t get promotion. Filmed in an office.
4. Ken Barden comments about band E staff issue in studio.
5. Nigel Broome talks about the share options scheme. A booklet “Sharing in our future” is now available describing the scheme.
6. Interview with Kevin McCarten (Marketing Director) on the relaunch of Sainsbury’s Reward Card (loyalty card) with various changes being made. Filmed in an office.
7. Presenter explains the schedule of launch of the new Reward Card.
8. Studio interview with Karen Penney (Senior Manager, Relationship Marketing) and Ken Barden explaining the details of the new Reward Card and what stores will need to do.
9. Interview with Ian Coull (Board Director) talking to Jonathan Wills about Sainsbury’s preparations to ensure that the company isn’t badly affected by the Millennium Bug [computer bug caused by computer systems storing year dates in a two digit format] and are ready to deal with any problems that occur. Filmed outside Greenwich store (shortly before it opened).
10. Studio interview with Ken Barden about issues relating to the Millennium including managing staffing and dealing with potential issues.
11. Rob Luxton (Seasonal Availability Team - SAT) talks about issues regarding availability of special offer products.
12. Studio interview with Ken Barden and Karen Penney about availability of special offer products, some non-worthwhile offers (eg a product discounted 1p) in the ‘slice the price’ campaign, small stores not always getting all the offers, and getting more information on Reward Cards.

Duration: 26 minutes.

There are 3 additional videos of unedited footage ("rushes") for this video. Some of this footage was also used in programmes broadcast on 5 October 1999 and 7 December 1999.