Brands opting for traffic light labelling will benefit from strength in numbers within Sainsbury's, the chain's boss said this week.

Chief executive Justin King said its stores would be dominated by traffic lights due to the roll-out of its Wheel of Health system across its own label ranges, with Basics featuring traffic lights from early next year.

"There are more and more coming in store, so brands will be rewarded by our shoppers if they provide them with the information they want."

King also said Christmas at Sainsbury's would be focused more on quality than price. "We will see the usual vigorous pricing levels as we do at Christmas, but I'm backing the quality horse. If you look at food retailers' advertising on TV at the moment, including ours, quality and health are the strong messages."

He said it was "not a huge deal" that Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year, adding that next year would be more of a concern when its busiest shopping day, 23 December, fell on a Sunday.

The comments were made as Sainsbury's reported its seventh successive quarter of growth, with sales up 6.6% in the 16 weeks to 7 October. Despite the performance, King cautioned that there were tough times ahead due to tougher sales comparatives.

King told The Grocer that at the half-way point of its three-year turnaround plan it had already achieved £1.3bn extra sales of its targeted £2.5bn.

King added it had set out its stall with suppliers and that relationships were now "strong and productive".