Sainsbury's wants to double growth in non-food sales

Further evidence of J Sainsbury's push into clothing and general merchandise was seen yesterday as the retailer announced it was doubling staff at its non-food operation.

The supermarket is to take on 150 recruits in everything from product design to buying and merchandising at its Coventry site where its own-label clothing team already operates.

The move is part of Sainsbury's strategy to grow non-food sales across its categories, including electrical, newspapers and magazines and cards, by around £1.2bn over the next three years. Non-food sales are currently worth about £2.2bn which represents 15 per cent of sales in stores. Sainsbury's is expecting general merchandise sales to grow by 18 to 20 per cent a year, double its growth last year.

The supermarket, which was the subject of two failed takeover bids last year, was slower than rivals Tesco and Asda to embrace the opportunities of non-food. Tesco's aggressive assault on the clothing, electrical goods and entertainment categories was one reason it jumped into first place in the late 1990s, from where it soared ahead of its rivals. The value clothing ranges at Asda and Tesco have eaten into market share of high street retailers, such as M&S, forcing it to lower prices.

A recent report from the Office for National Statistics showed that British families now spend a smaller proportion of their income on food than at any time in the past 50 years, so supermarkets are channelling their energies into finding sales outside the traditional grocery market.

Asda yesterday revealed its 127,000 store and depot staff are to share in a £21m bonus pool following a successful 2007. The average payout will be £245 for a full-time store worker. This came a day after M&S gave discount vouchers to more then 70,000 staff, fuelling concerns over current trading.