Strong festive time for Sainsbury’s
Grocer saw premium range sales soar
BUSINESS: Sainsbury’s has reported strong festive trading, but it said it was an unusual Christmas for customers, who bought smaller turkeys, while lamb and beef sold well.
The grocer said many customers treated themselves to premium Taste the Difference products such as vintage champagne and desserts.
SAINSBURY’S HAS reported strong festive trading, although it said it was an unusual Christmas for customers, who bought smaller turkeys than usual whilst alternatives such as lamb and beef sold well.
The UK’s second biggest grocer said many customers treated themselves to premium Taste the Difference products such as vintage champagne, party food and desserts.
The firm said people shopped early and Monday, December 21 was its busiest day for the first time. People usually leave their Christmas shopping until just before the day.
Christmas like- for- like sales rose 9.3 per cent and the firm said it expects annual profits to be £ 60m more than previously thought.
Underlying pre- tax profits for the year are now expected to hit £ 330m, up from predictions of £ 270m.
The profit upgrade came as the supermarket said sales in the three months to January 2 jumped 8.6 per cent on a like for-like basis, helping profits to surge.
Grocery sales rose 7.4 per cent, with online grocery sales leaping 128 per cent. General merchandise sales were up 6.0 per cent, with Argos sales up 8.4 per cent. However, clothing sales grew by just 0.4 per cent as people bought less clothing during lockdown periods
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “Many customers had to change their Christmas plans at the last minute and we sold smaller turkeys and more lamb and beef than normal.
“While people had smaller gatherings, they still treated themselves, with Taste the Difference sales up 11 per cent. Premium champagne sales were up 52 per cent, Taste the Difference party food was popular throughout December and people did more home baking than usual with mincemeat sales up 24 per cent. Customers still wanted New Year’s Eve at home to feel special and we sold a record number of steaks.
“More customers bought their food online than ever before and we delivered 1.1 million orders in the ten days to Christmas, double the number of last year.”
Mr Roberts said that as the country enters the third phase of tighter restrictions and national lockdowns, his number one priority is to keep colleagues and customers safe.
“The last few months have been really tough for many people and we are all dealing with a lot of change and uncertainty again. Given these challenging circumstances, we really focused on doing the best possible job for our customers this Christmas,” he added.
“At Christmas we focused on offering our customers great prices, great quality and great service and I feel really proud that Sainsbury’s customer satisfaction scores were the highest ever in the key Christmas week. We have started the new year with a strong value offer, with Price Lock currently on over 2,500 everyday products.”
Analyst Clive Black at Shore Capital said: “Reflecting the prevailing social context of the UK, notably the pandemic, Sainsbury’s again mirrored the commentary of Morrisons in outlining how folks adapted to the controls and constraints but sought to enjoy themselves; so smaller turkeys were in demand and folks baked more.”