Card payments were not being accepted at hundreds of stores, with only cash accepted. The supermarket chain also had to cancel online and click and collect orders.
Tesco became the latest supermarket to be affected by IT issues, with the company forced to 'cancel a small number of orders'. It was understood to be a separate, unrelated fault.
In a key update at 4.40pm, a Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We can confirm that contactless payments are now back up and running in all our stores, alongside all other forms of payment.
"Our groceries online ordering system is working as normal and customers can place an order for delivery anytime from tomorrow.
"We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by technical issues today - thank you for bearing with us."
The company's CEO wrote to affected customers earlier today to confirm that a voucher would automatically appear in their online wallet 'in the next few days' to 'apologise for the inconvenience of not getting your order'.
Read more at https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/business/consumer/sainsburys-it-disruption-ceo-confirms-voucher-for-customers-affected-4557984
1. Queues for cash machine at Sainsbury's in Worthing after card payment system fails
People were pictured queueing for cash points outside Sainsbury’s stores in Sussex after a major IT fault, which prevented card payments. Photo: Eddie Mitchell
2. Queues for cash machine at Sainsbury's in Worthing after card payment system fails
People were pictured queueing for cash points outside Sainsbury’s stores in Sussex after a major IT fault, which prevented card payments. Photo: Eddie Mitchell