UK DIY News
Sainsbury's Q3: Strong Online Grocery Performance; General Merchandise Decline
Sainsbury's has reported on third-quarter trading for the 15 weeks to 4 January 2020, advising of strong grocery performance and online growth as it creates one multi-brand, multi-channel business.
· Grocery sales grew 0.4 per cent, with Groceries Online up 7.3 per cent
· Clothing sales grew by 4.4 per cent
· General Merchandise sales declined by 3.9 per cent
· Total online sales grew by 5 per cent
· Total retail sales declined by 0.7 per cent (excl. fuel), with like-for-like sales down 0.7 per cent (excl. fuel)
Mike Coupe, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said: "We gave our customers a great combination of quality food at good prices this Christmas and we delivered a standout performance operationally. We have a real sense of momentum in Sainsbury's and investment in our stores and improvements to service and availability have led to our highest customer satisfaction scores of the year.
"Our digital investments are also paying off and over 20% of our business was online in the quarter. Groceries Online had record order numbers throughout the Christmas period and customers are increasingly choosing to shop with SmartShop in our supermarkets. Argos had its biggest digital Black Friday to date and record sales through mobile and via Argos Click and Collect. 32 million customers shopped with us across Sainsbury's and Argos in the key Christmas week.
"The colder weather helped to deliver strong clothing sales in the quarter and our Christmas, party and gifting ranges were all popular with customers. Argos outperformed the market in consumer electronics, but the toy and gaming markets declined year on year.
"Thank you to all of our colleagues for working so hard over this key quarter and for delivering great service and availability for our customers in stores and online."
Outlook
Retail markets remain highly competitive and promotional and the consumer outlook continues to be uncertain. However, we are well placed to navigate the external environment and are executing well against our strategy.
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Total sales growth | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | |||||||||
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | ||||
Grocery | 0.5% | 2.0% | 0.4% | (0.6)% | (0.5)% | 0.6% | 0.4% | ||||
General Merchandise | 1.7% | 1.2% | (2.3)% | 1.5% | (3.1)% | (2.0)% | (3.9)% | ||||
Clothing | 0.8% | (3.4)% | (0.2)% | (1.6)% | (4.5)% | 3.3% | 4.4% | ||||
Total Retail (excl. fuel) | 0.8% | 1.7% | (0.4)% | (0.2)% | (1.2)% | 0.1% | (0.7)% | ||||
Total Retail (inc. fuel) | 3.2% | 3.9% | 0.8% | 0.0% | (0.6)% | 0.1% | (0.9)% | ||||
During the quarter, Sainsbury's:
- Invested in 127 supermarkets and 93 convenience stores; on track to deliver improvements to 450 supermarkets and 200 convenience stores by mid-March
- Opened 10 Argos stores in Sainsbury's supermarkets, bringing the total to 298
- Added six new convenience stores in the quarter, including the first "large convenience" format store at Woodhall Spa
- Opened two new supermarkets in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex and Olney near Milton Keynes
- Served a total of 32 million customers across Sainsbury's and Argos in the week before Christmas
- Including Argos, over 20 per cent of sales across the business started online in the quarter and total online sales grew by over 5% year on year
- Argos stores in Sainsbury's supermarkets performed particularly well as customers value the convenience of being able to do more of their shopping under one roof
Source : Sainsbury's
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