Over the six weeks to 3 January, the UK’s second biggest supermarket chain saw a 5.1% rise in total grocery sales.
Boosted in part by strong demand for its premium ‘Taste the Difference’ own-brand range, these promising figures are not matched in other areas of the business.
Sainsbury’s-owned catalogue retailer, Argos, saw a 2.2% drop in sales over the same period, while non-food and clothing sales fell by 1%.
These figures come amid accusations made last month that the retailer is treating Argos like an “unloved child” after it confirmed in September that it was in discussions to sell the historic brand to Chinese e-commerce giant, JD.com.
In its third quarter trading update Sainsbury’s also revealed that fresh food sales rose by 8%, with sales for its Taste the Difference range upping by 15% in the same period – currently the fastest growing premium own-label range on the UK market.
“More customers switched to Sainsbury’s, trusting us for both great value essentials and premium Taste the Difference products in their big Christmas shop and we were the only major grocer to grow items in the basket,” said CEO Simon Roberts.
“We gave customers great value on a bigger range of products this year and more customers benefited from personalised Your Nectar Prices, available to every supermarket shopper for the first time.”
He added: “We expected the market to become more competitive with customers spending more carefully, and we invested in balanced choices to offer great value for money, outstanding quality and innovation and leading customer service and availability, both in store and online.”
Despite disappointing non-grocery sales figures, Sainsbury’s confirmed that it remained on target to hit (its expected) more than £1 billion in underlying operating profits for the full year.