Sainsbury’s pulls in Christmas sales uptick as online business grows

Supermarket giant J Sainsbury plc has rounded off the calendar year with an uptick in quarterly sales.

In the company’s third quarter, the 15 weeks to January 6 2018, sales rose 1.2% year on year.

Highlights for the period included making Sainsbury’s same-day groceries online offering available to 38% of UK households; achieving a record Black Friday period for retailer Argos, which the group acquired in 2016; and growing Sainsbury’s Bank’s active customer base by 8%.

Looking ahead at its final quarter, Sainsbury’s said it is now on track have achieved £185m in cost savings this year, exceeding its £500m three-year target by £40m.

Group CEO Mike Coupe said: “We’re pleased with our performance across the group this quarter. We had a strong Christmas week, with record sales, over 340k online grocery orders and stellar growth in Argos Fast Track delivery and collection.

“Online accounted for 20% of the group’s sales during the quarter.”

He continued: “General merchandise and clothing grew market share in a challenging market. Argos stores in Sainsbury’s supermarkets performed particularly well and Argos saw record sales across the Black Friday period.”