Jamie Oliver adds to sales lift at Sainsbury’s

by Camilla Palmer, Brand Republic 26-Jul-00

The marketing power of Jamie Oliver, listening to customers and reducing clutter in stores are the reasons behind an uplift in sales for Sainsbury’s supermarket arm.

LONDON (Brand Republic) – The marketing power of Jamie Oliver, listening to customers and reducing clutter in stores are the reasons behind an uplift in sales for Sainsbury’s supermarket arm.

Sir Peter Davis, group chief executive, said the company was expressing its “passion for food” to customers using celebrity chef Oliver, who appears in TV advertising and on promotional material in-store. Sir Peter claimed his endorsement was encouraging loyalty among existing shoppers and encouraging new ones through the doors.

He added that promotional activity had focused on quality while keeping prices low. He said stores had been cleared of clutter and one-off non-food items, such as TVs, in response to customer demand.

Supermarket sales were up 5.5% for the first quarter, with like-for-likes up 3.1%, and group sales, which include sales from the Homebase DIY chain and its US supermarket chain Shaw’s –- up 9.2%.

Sainsbury store sales were considerably boosted by petrol sales, which contributed almost 2% to the 5.5% sales rise. The company said it was not looking to expand its existing estate of 223 forecourts, all of which are attached to stores.

Homebase was the best performing division, with total sales up 14.7%,and like-for-likes up 12.3%.

“This is an encouraging performance, with our customers responding positively to our deeper, more focused promotional activity,” said Sir Peter.

The news comes as Sainsbury sold 10 stores to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and property investment firm Asset Trust for £226m.