Sainsbury’s, the first of the major supermarkets to report its trading figures, is boasting of its ‘best-ever’ Christmas amid a sea of uncertainty in the retail industry.
J. Sainsbury said it had 22.6 million customers in the final week before Christmas, and its busiest ever trading day on December 23.
Llike-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to Jan 3 rose 4.5 per cent, excluding petrol. That compares with a 4.3 per cent rise in the second quarter and a 3.7 per cent rise during the same period last year. Total sales in the quarter rose 4.8 per cent.
The news comes just a day after Marks and Spencer, one of Sainsbury’s’ rivals in the premium food range, announced the closure of 27 stores with over 1,200 jobs lost following poor festive figures.
Sainsbury's also saw its highest ever trading performances for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, as well as record orders for its online home delivery service which were up 27 per cent.
The figures, which are better than the company had forecast, Tesco reported a sharp fall in sales growth to two per cent at the end of last year due to reviving competition and its major investment in discount ranges.
Sainsbury's on Thursday said its own brand cheap ‘basics’ range saw sales rocket more than 40 per cent year-on-year. And it reported "good growth" from its non-food offering, after events in the run-up to Christmas such as November's half-price toy promotion, in which it sold three million toys in seven days.
Chief executive Justin King expects a "particularly challenging" economic climate to continue during 2009 but said the firm would keep investing in price and promotions to continue its progress.
"We have continued to develop the Sainsbury's offer and demonstrated our ability to respond to rapidly changing customer needs," he said.
Sainsbury's has 509 supermarkets and 276 smaller convenience store outlets, and employs 150,000 people.
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