Sainsbury’s storms ahead with ‘best ever’ Christmas
Sainsbury’s has hailed its “best Christmas ever” after posting like-for-like sales growth of 2.1%, excluding fuel, over the festive period.
Total sales in the 14 weeks to 7 January were up 4.5%, buoyed by 1.5 million extra transactions.
“This was a record-breaking Christmas, with our biggest-ever week, day and hour for sales, as customers celebrated with Sainsbury’s quality food,” said chief executive Justin King.
“Across the quarter, customers chose Sainsbury’s to help them ‘Live Well For Less’, taking advantage of our great value offer during October and November and then treating themselves and their families over the holiday season.”
King also pointed out that on top of the market-beating like-for-likes over Christmas, Sainsbury’s had now notched up like-for-like sales growth of 5.7% over a two-year period.
General merchandise and clothing continued to grow faster than food, while groceries grew at almost 20% and convenience surged by almost 25%.
The figures trump those unveiled earlier this week by Morrisons, which on Monday surprised analysts with lower than expected like-for-like sales growth of 0.7% for the six weeks to 1 January.
Yesterday, data from Kantar Worldpanel revealed Sainsbury’s had seized its biggest market share since 2003, up from 16.6% to 16.7% in the three months leading to Christmas Day.
