Sainsbury’s posts quarterly sales uplift as value focus drives growth
Sainsbury’s has increased its like-for-like sales excluding fuel by 2.1% in its first quarter as it focus on value helped it make market share gains.
In the 16 weeks to 20 June, total sales grew by 2.7% to £9.153 billion as grocery sales climbed by 3.6%.
Subscribe to TRBSainsbury’s said a consistent focus value and availability helped to deliver a further quarter of volume growth and market share gains with more customers choosing the supermarket when doing their larger trolley shops.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury, said: “Customers are looking for value now more than ever.
“We are consistently delivering outstanding quality at great value, so more people are choosing Sainsbury’s for their big weekly shop. This has driven an encouraging start to the year with continued volume growth and market outperformance.
“We’ve kept our strong focus on value, with the biggest Aldi Price Match in the market, across supermarkets and convenience stores, and Nectar Prices on around 11,000 products.”
During the period, Sainsbury’s also focused on innovation with the launch of over 380 new items, around half of which were in its premium Taste the Difference range. It also expanded its restaurant quality Discovery range to include barbecue items and committed to making healthy food “easier to find, more exciting to choose and more affordable”.
Roberts said: “As customers make more considered food choices, we’re going further to make healthy everyday essentials more accessible and affordable, starting with fibre, fruit and veg.
“From new products and reformulation to clear Full on Fibre labelling on over 500 products, we’re making it easier for families to choose healthier options.”
General merchandise sales fell by 6.3% following a decision to reduce space for the category in favour of food. Tu Clothing sales were down with a drop of 2.1%.
Looking ahead, Sainsbury’s said the impact of conflict in the Middle East on its business remains uncertain, although it continues to expect to deliver total underlying operating profit of between £975 million and £1.075 billion in its full year.
Roberts said: “With the World Cup in full swing and an exciting summer of sport ahead, I want to say a huge thank you to all our Sainsbury’s and Argos colleagues and our farmers and suppliers for showing up so well for our customers every day.”
