Bluebird-style concepts rolled out by Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's is to introduce elements from its Bluebird Market store to 39 shops, following the upmarket outlet's success.

The grocer, recently overtaken by Asda as the UK's number two supermarket business, aims to underline its credentials on quality and differentiate itself from competitors.

Sainsbury's will put Bluebird-style meat, fish, cheese and bakery counters in the 39 extra shops from Monday.

As a result of the changes, 50 new products will be introduced in the relevant stores.

Staff have received special training to improve service and product knowledge. A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said: 'Bluebird has been a success. We have conducted research to find which elements customers appreciate that we should roll out into other stores.'

Sainsbury's will evaluate how the new counters work in the latest tranche of shops, before extending the initiative further.

Teather & Greenwood analyst Dave Stoddart questioned whether Sainsbury's customer service and product focus strategy would work.

He said: 'Time will tell, but one of the things about supermarket shopping is that customers like to get in, do it and get out. They might not want to stand around and debate the merits of prawns from this bay versus prawns from that bay.'

In late June, Sainsbury's revealed its intention to open a second Market store in Pimlico, London, but said then that there were no plans for a more extensive roll-out of such stores.