Sainsbury's aims to establish direct sourcing hubs around the world to respond to Tesco and Asda's lead in non-food.
The retailer employed direct sourcing for the new, 2,500-strong non-food range that went into stores last week, but supervised the operation from its Holborn HQ.
Now Sainsbury's intends to open offices overseas to forge closer relationships with suppliers and drive cost-savings.
Both Tesco and Wal-Mart adopt the same strategy for the sourcing of non-food product.
Sainsbury's trading director non-foods Keith Evans said: 'In due course we will need to set up office space overseas (for sourcing).'
The grocer is expanding its non-food offer and will add a further 1,500 lines to its homeware and cookshop range next spring. Evans said Sainsbury's could open standalone non-food stores depending on the success of the new offer.
In clothing, Sainbury's has repositioned its Jeff & Co offer to emphasise its value. The 'Essentials' basics range now accounts for 47 per cent of Jeff & Co clothing - double the previous proportion. The retailer has also axed eight of the 12 Jeff & Co sub-brands.
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