Sainsbury’s has reported a record performance over Christmas, with sales up 7.1% despite the pressure on household budgets.
For the supermarket group’s third quarter as a whole, sales grew by 5.2% compared with the same period a year ago. Sainsbury’s said that the increase was driven by inflation, with “relatively resilient volume trends”.
Households “managed their budgets differently” this Christmas, according to Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts.
Customers started their Christmas shopping early to spread the cost and take advantage of Black Friday and other seasonal offers. Also, more people entertained at home as large gatherings were once again permitted, following the pandemic.
Sainsbury’s also reported a rise in clothing sales due to the cold weather and strong sales at Argos, with technology products and household lines doing well.
“We understand money will be exceptionally tight this year particularly as many people wait for Christmas bills to land,” Roberts added. “We are working together with our suppliers to battle cost inflation and we’re keeping prices low again this year with our biggest value campaign yet in January, price matching Aldi on around 300 of our most popular products.”
While the company remains “cautious” on the outlook for consumers, it now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year to March 2023 to be towards the upper end of its previous guidance range of £630m to £690m.
