Online sales deliver for Sainsbury’s

A BOOM in shoppers buying groceries online, and through smaller convenience formats, helped J Sainsbury deliver forecast-beating fourth quarter sales.

Britain’s third largest grocer also credited the popularity of its own label ranges and brand match promotion, recently copied by rival Tesco, for bringing in a record number of customers.

However chief executive Justin King lashed out at Tesco’s new scheme saying it was wrong to try to compare own brand products on price alone.

In stark contrast to rival Morrisons, which has no food presence online and only a fledgling convenience business, Sainsbury’s saw an 18pc jump in sales from convenience and 20pc online.

These are now the two fastest growing areas for UK grocers who are battling for shoppers in a fiercely competitive market dominated by pr o motions a nd vouchers.

Sainsbury’s has been the stand out winner as Tesco mounts a fight back and Morrisons struggles with an outdated legacy.

However, chief executive Justin King warned that the environment remained tough and he called on Chancellor George Osborne to issue a National Insur- ance holiday for new employees in today’s Budget. He believes the move would encourage firms to hire staff and foster growth.

Shares in Sainsbury’s rose 6.2p to 371.4p as it posted a 3.6pc rise in underlying fourth quarter sales well ahead of the 2.3pc analysts were expecting and the 0.9pc seen in the third quarter.

King said Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day were particularly robust this year.