Sainsbury's sees significant sales growth and record market share!
Sainsbury's recently announced its best start to the year performance: For the 16 weeks to June 21, 2025, grocery sales increased by 5% and driving market share to its highest level since 2016. Simon Roberts, chief executive, said the supermarket's growth has been driven by "consistent value for money, excellent quality and availability". He highlighted the retailer's expanded "Aldi Price Match campaign, which covers around 800 everyday essentials.
In addition, the Nectar membership program offers discounts on more than 9,000 items, including household items like storage basket and bath storage rack. This has also helped drive customer satisfaction to an all-time high. Sainsbury's fresh food ranges continue to perform strongly. Sales of the premium line, Taste the Difference, grew by 20%. This was driven by the launch of new deli and picnic products, which have been popular with shoppers enjoying the warmer weather. Convenience store sales were up 6%, and online grocery sales were also up 6%, thanks to strong on-demand sales.
Roberts attributes the company's success to a “winning combination,” which attracts more major food shoppers. He noted that the company has had 30 consecutive quarters of core customer growth, and market share for the third consecutive year. He said, "The secret to our success lies in combination of value for money, superior quality, availability and leading customer service. This has further fueled market share growth to the highest level in nearly a decade. We are offering our customers unprecedented benefits, and more and more people are choosing us as their primary place to shop for groceries."
The group's sales of general merchandise and apparel increased by 4.2%, with Tu Clothing sales increasing by 8%. This was mainly due to a 13% increase in women's clothing sales. Argos sales increased by 4.4%. Argos performed well in a competitive and deflationary market environment, partly due to the popularity of practical products such as storage basket. This was also supported by digital improvements and marketing initiatives.
Sainsbury's said it is moving forward with its ‘More for More’ program to rebalance supermarket space in favor of food. During the quarter, the company completed investments in 21 stores and opened seven new convenience stores and two supermarkets. All new stores performed above expectations.
The retailer remains focused on cost savings and operational efficiencies, aiming to improve SmartShop's engagement and front-end technology upgrades, and realize £1 billion in savings by March 2027.
Looking ahead, Sainsbury's expects that grocery sales to continue to lead the market, with underlying retail operating profit of around £1 billion. Free cash flow for the year is expected to be in excess of £500 million.
The retailer also emphasized its continued investment in the Nectar membership program, including plans to launch the Nectar360 Pollen retail media platform later this year. The platform is designed to revolutionize the way brands engage with customers through personalized retail media campaigns.
Roberts added: "We know that delivering consistently superb price/performance ratio is crucial. We have built on our strong competitive position by further improving our price advantage year on year to outperforming all of our major competitors. We're now offering the market's largest 'Aldi Price Match' commitment, offering customers even more opportunities to save money on everyday essentials. As a result, our value for money customer satisfaction score is at an all-time high."