Sainsbury’s is defying its legion of doubters

The supermarket is outpacing its rivals when it comes to the volume of products going through its checkouts. Can, James Moore asks, Britain’s number two grocer keep it up during the tough year ahead?

Sainsbury’s has said early Christmas shopping and customers watching the World Cup at home helped increase sales over the key festive quarter despite pressure on shoppers from the rising cost of living (PA Wire)

It was a mostly happy Christmas for Sainsbury’s, which trumpeted “record sales” over the festive period and also said its earnings would come in at the “upper end” of a range that tops out at £690m.

Britain’s number two supermarket reported a third-quarter increase in grocery sales of 5.6 per cent, rising to 7.1 per cent over the six weeks to 7 January. Its customers seem to have shrugged off the ongoing cost of living crisis to indulge themselves in a festive splurge, at least those with the capacity to do so.

The record the group hailed does, however, demand some explanation. With food price inflation running at over 16 per cent by some measures, you can sell quite a bit less product and still report record sales because of the higher prices you’re selling it. Because of that, anything less than a record on the part of Sainsbury’s could actually have been considered quite the disappointment.