Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King admitted he made something of a gaffe in a live interview on Sky this morning.
King told presenter Eamonn Holmes that mums had been busy stocking up for Christmas in the supermarket’s recent half-price toy sale. Holmes was quick to correct him that it was in fact Father Christmas who got all the toys.
Gaffe or not, King is predicting a merry Christmas for Sainsbury’s, which this morning reported a 2.5% increase in pre-tax profits to £405m and a 4% increase in sales to £13.4bn.
In the same vein as previous years, King says shoppers will splash out in the run-up to the big day, but then cut back afterwards.
“Our insights are that yes, times are tough and challenging, but on family occasions, our customers will enjoy themselves and celebrate,” he said. “In January there will be some battening down to rebalance the books, but they will want to make Christmas special.”
However, he also predicted own-label and vouchers would also play a crucial part in Christmas shopping for consumers looking to save some pennies.
He also took a swipe at his rivals for their Christmas ads that portrayed the build-up to Christmas as something of a chore rather than an event to be looked forward to.
“Retailers have gone for more general ads this year but our consumer insight is that they enjoy the build-up as much as the day itself. They enjoy the build-up and it should be celebrated. Christmas ads should be joyous and uplifting.”
Last week, a panel of ad experts analysed the festive ad offerings of Asda, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and The Co-operative Group for The Grocer. This week, it’s the turn of Aldi, Morrisons, Iceland and Sainsbury’s.
With Asda’s gritty, realistic and, depending on your point of view, sexist ad leading the rankings so far, can King’s take on a “joyous and uplifting” Christmas win the festive TV ad battle? Find out in this Saturday’s The Grocer.
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