Sainsbury’s has reported a like-for-like sales drop of 1.6 per cent with a mixed performance across its different channels.
Food sales declined by nearly one per cent, with declines at supermarket stores, whereas online and convenience recorded growth. The Taste the Difference range also saw over two per cent volume growth.
Sales at supermarkets declined just over two per cent driven by food deflation, lower like-for-like volumes and customers shopping across multiple channels.
Convenience stores delivered sales growth of nearly 11 per cent with 37 new stores opened this half, and online sales grew by seven per cent for the 28 weeks to 26 September 2015. Underlying profit before tax was down 17.9 per cent to £308 million.
Chief executive Mike Coupe said Sainsbury’s is making “good progress” against its turnaround strategy outlined last November. “We are delivering volume and transaction growth as customers value our quality improvements and our clearer, simpler message of lower regular prices,” he said.
“To complement our core food offer of great quality and inspiring food, we are delivering on our strategy to expand our non-food businesses with further growth in clothing, general merchandise and Sainsbury’s Bank. Our strategy of investing to ensure customers can shop with us across multiple channels remains a strategic advantage.”
Sainsbury’s said reducing its promotional activity has helped to improve forecasting, and stressed that it will “continue to remain competitive on price” with a £150 million investment to date.
The retailer said it is also trialling new formats in six supermarkets, as well as its micro convenience store layout in response to changing customer habits.
