Supermarket group Sainsbury’s, owners of furniture brand Habitat and catalogue retailer Argos, has reported a growth in Q3 sales, while furniture demand was “subdued”.
According to its third quarter trading statement for the 16 weeks to 4 January 2025, total sales rose 2.7%, driven by food revenues, up 4.1%. Sainsbury’s General Merchandise and Clothing sales were down 0.1%, while Argos sales were also down at 1.4%.
Commenting on Argos, the group said: “Continued improvements to our digital proposition, delivery offers, product and promotions delivered positive traffic trends and sales growth in the key Black Friday and Christmas weeks. However, this was more than offset by the impact on sales and gross margins of subdued customer spending outside these key periods and a highly promotional environment.
“Over the quarter, sales were strongest in technology, while the toy market was weak and customer demand in bigger ticket categories including furniture and larger consumer electronics remained subdued.”
The group expects to deliver full year Retail underlying operating profit in line with consensus and the midpoint of its £1,010-£1,060 million guidance range, representing growth of around 7%.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said: “We have won grocery market share for the fifth consecutive Christmas, with more customers choosing Sainsbury’s for their big shop. Driven by our leading combination of quality, value and service, we have achieved seven consecutive quarters of volume performance ahead of the market and further accelerated our two-year volume growth.
“The strength of our customer service and operational performance stood us apart in delivering our biggest ever Christmas. Customers shopped later than ever and we achieved our highest ever sales in the final days before Christmas. I would like to recognise and thank all of our colleagues who worked so hard to deliver record customer satisfaction and our suppliers who helped us deliver our best ever Christmas availability.
“Customers trust Sainsbury’s to deliver great quality food and drinks. Over half of big Christmas baskets contained a Taste the Difference product, helping Taste the Difference deliver sales growth of 16 per cent, outperforming all key competitors. Customers chose Sainsbury’s for their big festive celebrations with party food sales up nearly 40 per cent and more than 200 bottles of fizz sold every minute in the key days ahead of Christmas, over one third of which were Taste the Difference. Customers are also recognising our consistently strong value more and more, helped by record numbers of customers shopping Nectar Prices, driving gains from competitors as we attract new big basket customers to Sainsbury’s.
“Our people are fundamental to achieving our Next Level Sainsbury’s plan and we are pleased to announce that we will raise pay for our hourly-paid colleagues by five per cent in the year ahead, split into two separate increases to help manage a particularly tough cost inflation environment. We believe in rewarding our colleagues well for delivering leading service and productivity and we will be the best paying UK grocer from March.”
