Sainsbury’s shoppers have seen online orders fail to arrive on Thursday morning after the supermarket giant was hit by another technical hitch.

The UK’s second largest supermarket chain blamed a “technical issue” for disruption to its online grocery operation.

It said the issue affected a small number of customers but has now been resolved.

A spokeswoman for the company said: “A small technical issue affected some groceries online orders this morning.

“We have contacted these customers directly to apologise for the inconvenience.”

A number of shoppers took to social media to vent their frustration over failed deliveries.

Customers said deliveries did not arrive at expected times and they did not receive email receipts as usual.

In response to some complaints early on Thursday, the supermarket said on X, formerly Twitter: “I’m really sorry about the tech issues this morning.

“We’re aware of the situation and are working to sort it as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we’d advise you place a new order for a future date.”

Last month, Sainsbury’s was hit by a technical problem which meant customers were unable to make contactless payments.

The issue, which followed an overnight software update, also meant the company was not able to fulfil the “vast majority” of online deliveries on the day.

Thursday’s fresh problem came as the retailer said it expects to deliver “strong” profit growth over the year ahead on the back of surging food sales.