Sainsbury's news

The latest release from the insight business Kantar, based on data from its 30,000-strong shopper panel, indicates that in the 12-weeks to 17 April 2022 grocery retail spend in Great Britain fell by 0.6% versus 2020. This is the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that this comparative has been negative, showing once again the impact the first lockdown had on boosting the sector. Compa...

The GB market declined by 6.3% in the 12 weeks to March 20th against 2021’s elevated performance, according to the latest data from Kantar. This result is being driven by the eating out sector reclaiming some spend from retail and food-to-go sales also picking up as socialising and working patterns begin to normalise. Compared to March 2020 when the pandemic impact started, sales were ahead by ju...

Sainsbury’s has announced it will be expanding its Restaurant Hub format to 30 more stores this year following the success of the concept at its Selly Oak store . While 30 are planned for this year, Sainsbury’s will accelerate the roll out of the format next year if it remains popular with customers. Sainsbury’s will also be extending its partnership with Starbucks, opening another 30 mo...

Retailers are beginning to prepare for HFSS (high fat, salt, and sugar) regulations that are due to come into force this October, testing out new gondola ends, promotional mechanics and highlighting healthier products. We visited Sainsbury’s and Tesco to understand more about these trials, and other initiatives they are currently trying. We pick up five key learnings from these visits about fu...

The GB market declined 3.7% in the 12 weeks to 20 February against 2021’s performance, according to the latest results from Kantar. Despite the decline seen against 2021, sales remain significantly higher than in 2020, up by 8.4%. Inflation continues to rise Grocery inflation reached 4.3% in February. Other than the start of the pandemic, this is the fastest rate of inflation growth seen ...

Sainsbury’s has announced several changes to its senior team to accelerate the delivery of its Food First strategy. Graham Biggart appointed as Chief Transformation Officer Graham Biggart, currently Business Unit Director of Fresh Food and Food Service, has been promoted to the newly created role of Chief Transformation Officer and will join Sainsbury’s Operating Board in March 2022. In his...

Following the release of Sainsbury’s Christmas and Q3 results, we explore the key trends that shaped performance. Grocery sales hold on to 2020 gains Total grocery sales may only be up 0.1% on last year 1 (or 0.8% excluding the impact of stores being closed on Boxing Day), but this is on top of last year’s stellar 7.4% growth. It’s enough to have increased Sainsbury’s volume market share t...

In the first read of Christmas trading, Kantar has recorded sales were down by 3.0% on the lockdown-elevated levels of 2020 for the 12 weeks to 26 December 2021. Despite this shopper spend remained 8.0% higher than in 2019. Robust December sales Over the month of December sales of £11.7bn were just 0.2% lower than 2020, suggesting increased festive celebrations at home due to the Omicron ou...

Sainsbury’s has just opened its first checkout free store, powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, the first non-US retailer to be so. The store The trial store is at Holborn Circus store opposite Sainsbury’s head office. Closed during the pandemic due to low central London footfall, it has now reopened as the first store to host ‘Smart Shop Pick & Go’ The technology To use the ...

Sainsbury’s has opened its first checkout free store using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, following testing by the retailer’s employees. Located opposite its Holborn HQ, the introduction of “SmartShop Pick & Go” is the latest in a string of digital initiatives from the UK’s second largest grocer. These include the development of SmartShop, personalised My Nectar Prices and the expansion of Ch...