Sainsbury’s stages summer comeback
Strong new trading by grocery chain
SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s has had its best spell for nearly a year.
Mike Coupe, the chain’s boss, had been under pressure after a mega-merger with rival Asda was blocked and sales suffered.
But new figures published by industry data firm Kantar showed Sainsbury’s had enjoyed its strongest trading since October 2018.
Sales still dipped 0.1% over the past 12 weeks and its market share fell to 15.3%, from 15.4% a year ago.
But it outperformed its biggest competitors, with Tesco’s sales down 1.4%, Asda down 1% and Morrisons falling by 2%.
Kantar said: “Sainsbury’s increased its rate of sales on promotion faster than any other retailer with its Price Lockdown strategy lowering prices on meat and fresh produce in particular.”
Meanwhile, Morrisons’ market share has fallen from 10.2% to 9.9% in the past year and it is being quickly caught by booming Aldi, whose share of total takings has jumped from 7.6% to 8.1%.
The discount chain this week announced plans to open a store a week over the next two years, which risks further narrowing the gap with Morrisons.
Bradford-based Morrisons is seen as vulnerable to a takeover bid, especially given the slump in its share price.
Spending on groceries grew by 0.5% over the past three months but volume – the number of products bought – fell.
Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight, said it dispelled Brexit-related reports from elsewhere.
“As we move closer to October
31, it seems talk about stockpiling might be just that because we’re not seeing any evidence of it at the moment,” he said. “In fact, households bought 0.9% fewer items during the past 12 weeks than they did last year.”