Sainsbury’s raids Amazon to bring in Sam Littlejohn as its new Director of Supply Chain Planning
Sam Littlejoin has joined Sainsbury's as Director of Supply Chain Planning. He was previously at Amazon where he spent almost 11 years, most recently serving as Head of Returns and Repairs, Amazon EU.
RFID roll-out
Sainsbury's is rolling out radio frequency identification (RFID) technology across its TU clothing departments in approximately 400 stores, with the project due for completion by September. This follows a pilot earlier this year, which enabled the retailer to improve its stock level visibility, speed up replenishment and manage stock more efficiently.
“Really proud of my team and the role they’ve played in deploying this project across our stores. A huge amount of work, collaboration and energy behind the scenes to bring this to life,” said Gillian Ekin, Head of Transformation and Operational Development at Sainsbury’s.
RTIH has reached out to Sainsbury’s regarding specifics of the implementation, such as suppliers involved, and we will update this article when we receive a response.
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Supply chain technology will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards, which celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world, have now closed for entries. Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
