Festive marketing propels Sainsbury’s to record Christmas sales haul
Sainsbury’s has racked up record Christmas sales of over £1bn, following a successful festive campaign starring James Corden that helped push like-for-like sales up by 0.1% over the 15 weeks to 7 January.
This beat analyst expectations of a fall in like-for-like sales of 0.8% and extends a run of bumper food sale performances after Morrisons recorded its best Christmas sales in seven years yesterday.
The supermarket chain was also given a boost by its most recent acquisition, Argos, which enjoyed healthy sales on the back of high profile Black Friday price promotions.
Despite what is, on the face of it, unalloyed good news, chief executive Mike Coupe is refusing to get carried away and hinted that the coming year could prove more trying given the ‘very competitive’ market and uncertainty surrounding the devaluation of sterling.
Sainsbury’s is in process of rolling out Argos concessions throughout its estate in a bid to build synergies and entice customers heading for one or the other, which should help them benefit from the convenience of shopping at both without heading outdoors.