Sainsbury’s chief executive has told the Financial Times that British consumers think "things are worse than they really are".
King said in an interview with the respected broadsheet that, in the run-up to a crucial Christmas period, consumer sentiment is worse than it has ever been at this time of year.
He admitted that cash-strapped consumers, who believe the doom-mongers, are changing their shopping habits, and supermarkets need to cut their cloth accordingly.
"The business environment is tough (but) there have probably been Christmases in the last 20 years which were right into the middle and teeth of not just a technical recession but four, five, six quarters of recession," King told the FT.
"But if you are asking about whether sentiment is worse than it has ever been, yes I think it is," he said. He added that, as a nation of business people, “…we have an incredible habit of talking ourselves into a worse place than we are in".
Fellow retail executives, he claimed, have done little to help the mindset of shoppers.
Sainsbury’s, King said, is adding more products to its Basics range, which is growing at more than 20 per cent a year. "We are changing our offer to where our consumers are," he said.
