Sainsbury's has teamed up with Vodafone to create Mobile by Sainsbury's, a new network that will combine the Sainsbury's brand promise of Live Well for Less with the unbeatable coverage and reliability of one of the country's top mobile operators.

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Mobile by Sainsbury's, which will launch later this Summer, will reward customer loyalty, offer great quality value-for-money mobile products together with attractive offers - and of course Nectar points.

The UK mobile phone market offers a wide range of networks, tariffs and deals, but research shows that many customers find the decision-making process a stressful experience and are looking for simplicity and the certainty that they're getting great value.

Luke Jensen, Sainsbury's Group Development director said: "Our customers trust us to provide top quality products and service at fair prices, and Mobile by Sainsbury's feels like a natural extension of our brand as well as a great way to reward our customers.

"We're extremely pleased to be working with Vodafone and look forward to developing a range of mobile products and services that will take the stress out of purchasing decisions in a familiar environment, offering what's right for them whatever their needs may be."

Providing customers with quality products and services at the right price has been at the core of Sainsbury's values for over 144 years. The full product range and pricing will be announced at launch later this Summer.

The mobile virtual network will be run as a joint venture between Sainsbury's and Vodafone combining Sainsbury's brand, customer insight and retail distribution with Vodafone's expertise, technology and network.

Developing new business is a core part of Sainsbury's business strategy. In the past year, Sainsbury's has launched eBooks by Sainsbury's, mp3 downloads and most recently its video on demand service.

Sainsbury's also announced in May it would be buying out the 50% of the Sainsbury's Bank joint venture with Lloyds Banking Group that it does not already own, giving us the opportunity to increase the number of Bank customers and enhance loyalty by offering accessible, high quality and tailored financial services which reward customers who bank and shop with us.

Notes to editors

Nectar is the UK's largest loyalty scheme. Nearly 12 million Sainsbury's customers regularly use their Nectar loyalty card when they shop with us and the programme remains a source of considerable competitive advantage

The UK mobile market (from OFCOM 2012 Telecommunications Market Report)

  • 81.6 million UK mobile subscribers
  • 51% of active connections are prepay
  • 124 billion minutes of mobile voice calls per year
  • 150 billion text messages per year
  • In 2011 for the first time ever mobile calls exceed fixed line calls
  • Average number of text and MMS messages per customer in the UK is 200 up 17%
  • UK smartphone penetration at 58%
  • Mobile data on the increase revenue has increased 17.7% year on year in 2011
  • Customers spending on average 2.1 hours per month on their smart phone
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