5 years ago: Sainsbury's profit hit by £30m web investment

29.11.99: Sainsbury's supermarket warns profits will fall below expectations after announcing plans to invest £30m in its web-based home shopping service.

Half the cost - some £15m - is to be spent on a website for the company.

Sainsbury's new forecast is for profits of £615m - a third lower than the previous year.

28.10.04: Does this sound a bit familiar?

The supermarket chain doesn't appear to have had the best luck with IT investment.

Just last week, Sainsbury's announced it is freezing any new IT investment and rethinking its strategy after a costly automated depot and supply chain system - part of a £3bn project - ultimately failed to work.

The company will write off £290m in costs associated with the project - including £140m worth of redundant IT assets, £120m of automated equipment in the new fulfilment depots and £30m in stock losses is due to the disruption caused by the new depots and IT systems.

As part of the back-to-basics business plan, Sainsbury's will look to renegotiate its £1.8bn IT outsourcing contract with Accenture and simplifying existing IT systems

The supermarket will also hire 3,000 shelf-stackers and axe up to 700 management positions.