Sainsbury's has posted positive results over Christmas and the fourthquarter as total sales, for the 14 weeks ending 5 January, rose by 3.3 per cent and like-for-like sales were up 0.9 per cent, both excluding fuel.
The week before Christmas was the UK-based retailer's strongest trading week on record with customer transactions exceeding 27 million and it also generated a record-breaking £16 million in sales between 12pm and 1pm on the 23 December.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury's convenience business grew by more than 17 per cent during the quarter, while the online business grew by 15 per cent.
Despite the most recent datafrom Kantar Worldpanel showing that Sainsbury's was the only UK retailer to increase its market share - from 17.0 to 17.1 per cent - during the festive period, CEO Justin King isn't getting carried away and expects consumer spend to continue to become more restricted.
Hesaid: 'We expect the challenging economic backdrop to persist, with customers looking to re-balance their household budget after the festivities and so spending cautiously in the first few months of 2013.
King was also keen to point out the success of Sainsbury's own-brand products.
Headded: 'It has been a very strong quarter for our own-brand products, with sales growing at three times the rate of brands and 3,000 products available this Christmas either new or improved this year by Sainsbury’s, the core of our offer, is growing at nearly five per cent year-on-year, reflecting the investment we have made in further improving the quality and taste of our products.'
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