"It's the Business" programme, 5 October 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 5 October 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. Report on the Ladbroke Grove train crash on the railway line adjacent to Sainsbury’s Ladbroke Grove store. Includes interview with Vince Balzan (Store Manager, Ladbroke Grove). Discusses how store staff helped passengers who survived the crash including by providing first aid and using the store’s coffee shop into a disaster centre to help the walking wounded.
3. Studio interview with Bill Williams. Discusses recent press coverage about the beginning of a ‘price war’ between the major supermarkets, improving availability (ensuring stores are fully stocked and items are not sold out) and dealing with limited offers.
4. Report about the new Greenwich store. Discusses the features in the store including new design of checkouts and features to help the environment. Includes footage of the new store interior and exterior, the store opening day event with speech by Dino Adriano, customers shopping in the store, and "Vox pop" comments by customers.
5. Report about the “Sainsbury’s Organic Shop” at Merton Savacentre, expansion of Sainsbury’s organic range, and promotion of organic foods with Ian Merton (Commercial Director, Fresh Foods). The ‘Organic Shop’ was an experimental ‘store within a store’ containing a large number of organic products all in one place – the largest organic range in the UK. The organic range would be expanded and promoted across the company (including a TV commercial). Includes footage of Merton Savacentre store interior and exterior, organic products, the organic displays at Merton, and point of sale advertising for organic foods.
6. Television commercial for Sainsbury’s organic food range, as mentioned in report.
7. Report on head office staff volunteering to decorate a Crisis shelter for homeless people (near to the Blackfriars, London head office) using paint and materials donated by Homebase. Includes interviews with Gry Rosenquist (Crisis Corporate Partnerships Team) and Dominic Fry (Director, Corporate Affairs) and footage of staff decorating the shelter.
8. Studio interview with Bill Williams about a cut back in hours available.
9. Live phone-in questions and answers from staff with Bill Williams. Discusses: how a combination of a marked down product and an offer accidentally resulted in a price of minus 13p being charged; availability issues due to changes in product ranges for some products; issues with incorrect prices on a small amount of point of sale advertising; Greenwich store’s energy saving facilities as a trial/pilot for future stores.

Duration: 27 minutes.

There are three additional videos of unedited footage ("rushes") for this video, excluding those catalogued with the 7 September 1999 programme.