Somerfield Announce Closure of 24-7

Somerfield plc has today announced that it to close down it's Internet and Open... 24-7 home shopping service on Sunday 25 June.

The last orders will be taken on Monday 19 June.

The 24-7 service was launched in September 1999, and it's closure will affected 226 jobs.

Somerfield's executive chairman said: "The decision will clearly come as a disappointment to the staff of 24-7 who have worked hard to develop the business over the last 12 months. We may well have a fresh look at the role of e-commerce food retailing within Somerfield in the future, but the hard fact is that 24-7 has not been growing and represents a significant distraction to management at a time when its focus has to be on the core Somerfield and Kwik Save business. The decision has no effect on our Somerfield Home Delivery service which we will extend into more of our stores."

The closure of 24-7 will see Somerfield departure from the Open.... service. digiNEWS spoke with Jill Rawlins, Head of Corporate Affairs at Somerfield who said that the company had no plans to use their existing area as purely an advertisment.