Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King remains reasonably upbeat about his company’s prospects, despite the economic meltdown.
The revitalised supermarket chain registered its fifteenth consecutive quarter of growth last week, but King told the Sunday Telegraph he is concerned that the widespread tendency to talk down the economy threatens to swallow up the encouraging news he would prefer to convey to his customers.
He believes that Sainsbury’s is ideally positioned to ride out the storm, pointing to a breadth of range that allows the chain to appeal to shoppers who are price-conscious, but still searching for high quality product.
King said the ‘Feed yourself for a fiver’ campaign, launched to the nation by Sainsbury’s promotional frontman Jamie Oliver, was just one of the efforts being made by the chain to help consumers save the pennies. Its switch and save campaign, he added, encourages consumers to try and combine cheaper own-label lines instead of more than 200 food brands.
Rather than point the finger at the banks for the prevailing economic situation, King said he does not want to play the blame game. But he reiterated a comment from last month that he believes the constant negative comments from the City about the economy are having a detrimental effect, and playing a large part in causing the downturn to worsen.
