Sainsbury's reports slowdown in sales growth

The supermarket updated the City on its trading performance in the 10 weeks to 19 March 2011 ahead of today's (Wednesday) budget.

Sainsbury's said sales from its stores that have been open for longer than a year lifted by just 1% in the 10-week period.

Sales had slowed compared to the 3.6% growth in the previous period.

Sainsbury's acknowledged that its customers were being forced to spend more carefully and said that it was meeting changing consumer tastes with its "meal planner" cards, which offer advice about cooking from scratch.

Supermarkets and food brands have recently been tapping into consumer demand for cheaper offerings. Last year Premier Foods launched the 'Great Little Ideas' campaign aimed at encouraging the use of its brands, which include Lloyd Grossman, Branston, Ambrosia and Hartley's, to prepare meals from scratch.

Justin King, Sainsbury's chief executive, commenting on the trading performance, said: "In a tough consumer environment our focus on delivering universal customer appeal and our multi-channel and space growth strategy has attracted a 21 million customers to our stores each week, up one million on last year.

"As a result we have delivered total sales growth excluding fuel of 3.5% and like-for-like sales growth of 1%, outperforming the market in the period."

This month the supermarket announced it had signed up TV style guru Gok Wan to design a range of clothes for its Tu clothing line, and launched a 30-second TV ad, staring long-term brand ambassador Jamie Oliver, in aid of comic relief.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk