Today in retail: Nisa tops Sainsbury’s shopping list

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Sainsbury’s pursuit of Nisa should not come as a huge shock in a grocery market that is in the midst of a radical shift.

In the past year alone, Sainsbury’s has acquired Argos, Amazon has brought its Fresh proposition to the UK, Morrisons has penned a supply deal with the US etail titan and Tesco has agreed a £3.7bn deal to buy Booker.

And last week, Amazon rocked the retail industry to its core by revealing it is buying Whole Foods for a whopping $13.7bn (£10.8bn).

If Sainsbury’s succeeds in its bid to buy Nisa, it should reap a number of rewards.

The grocer’s convenience store portfolio would grow exponentially in size overnight, it would gain a foothold in the wholesale market and the step up in buying power would allow it to buy products at greater volume and minimise food price inflation for customers.

But amid the highly competitive landscape, that may only be enough to help it stand still, rather than race ahead of its rivals.

Nisa isn’t the only acquisition target in the news today, with San Francisco-based private-equity house Hellman and Friedman understood to have tabled a bid for Shop Direct.

Three potential buyers are thought to be in the running as the Barclay brothers press ahead with their sale plans.