Sainsbury’s this, Sainsbury’s that…and Inflation rockets “overnight”

Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group stole the headlines this week, despite sales growth falling short of forecasts.

The supermarket goliath performed better than rivals Tesco, with sales at stores open for at least a year rising 1.9pc, excluding fuel but including VAT, in the three months to June 11.

Despite being up 1pc from the previous quarter but down on market expectations of a 2.1pc rise.

The rise in sales has no doubt been down to some key holiday periods, we had Easter, the Royal wedding and some desirable weather back in April to which Justin King, the chief executive, credits to much of Sainsbury’s success during tough economic conditions.

Sainsbury’s said that it sold almost 300 miles of bunting, 159,000 flags and 49,000 mugs. Hot cross buns sales jumped an impressive 29pc due to Easter celebrations and they said that they sold the most champagne ever outside of Christmas!

It wasn’t just like-for-like sales that where a hot topic where Sainsbury’s were concerned, they also showed encouraging signs for growth. The convenience business grew at 20pc and it’s groceries online business also grew 20pc.

General merchandise online continued to grow sturdily, supported no doubt by the accelerated roll-out of the ‘Click & Collect’ service to a further 240 stores bringing the total ‘Click & Collect’ stores to 400.

To finish with, Sainsbury’s launched a promising campaign earlier this week called ‘Switch the Fish’. The campaign basically encourages consumers to try more lesser-known fish in order to alleviate pressure on declining fish stocks and reduce waste from fishing.

‘Switch the Fish’ allows any Sainsbury’s customer who asks for one of the ‘Big 5’ species of cod, haddock, tuna, salmon or prawns to pick up an alternative, lesser know species for free.

So, next time you venture into Sainsbury’s, check out the fish counter, where you might find a new love for pouting, megrim or coley fish.

 

In other news…

The price of food is rising at the fastest rate for two years, with some individual items jumping by more than 50pc.

I’m not saying people should turn to rationing, but be wary of the increase, as some items are literally rising overnight.

A half-loaf of sliced white bread at Tesco’s was 60p, but overnight it rose to 93p – it’s only 33p, but a 50pc increase no less.

Here’s some quick figures for average food prices; fusilli pasta has rose 35.4pc from 64p to 86p over the last year, English butter will now cost you £1.21 instead f the 93p it was and chicken fillets have gone up 24.5pc to £4.65 for a 3.4lb pack.

Now it doesn’t sound like a lot, but if inflation were to carry on in such a way, such items could become luxurious.