Sainsbury's delivers strong Christmas sales
results with like for like sales rising by 4.2 per cent, due to a
concentration on fresh healthy produce.
Sainsbury's Third quarter revenues rose to 5.8 per cent during the festive period. Online sales boosted profits increasing this year by 60 per cent, as did sales of Sainsbury's 'taste the difference' range, which grew by 20 per cent.
"We are pleased to have continued our good sales performance in the third quarter of the year and achieved record sales in the week before Christmas. Achieving our eight quarter of like-for-like growth demonstrates that our recovery remains firmly on track," said Justin King, Sainsbury's chief executive.
The food retailer enjoyed a strong Christmas performance attracting 20 million customers through its doors, up from the 19 million last year. A spokesperson for Sainsbury's told FoodandDrinkEurope.com that the stores concentration on health was a factor, as customers generally upgrade product choice at Christmas to ranges such as 'taste the difference'.
Sainsbury's CEO King said that the store was committed to promoting health to its customers by the 'wheel of health', which measures the nutritional content of products, on the front of over 4,000 products.
To combat the traditionally tough post Christmas market Sainsbury's are investing £70m in customer offers, reducing prices on another 1,000 products and strengthening promotions with around 200 half price offers.
The supermarket opened eight new supermarkets, including five acquired from Somerfield, completed 11 extensions and refurbished a further seven supermarkets during the quarter.
