Sainsbury’s has posted its first fall in like for like-for-like sales in nine years.
Like-for-likes were down 3.1%, excluding fuel, in the 10 weeks to 15 March. Total sales fell 1% excluding fuel. Including fuel, they were down 3.8% and 1.5% respectively.
Outgoing CEO Justin King blamed the fall on a combination of tough comparatives, and a later Easter and Mother’s Day.
“This time last year our sales benefited significantly from the discovery of horsemeat in some branded and competitors’ products,” he said.
“The market is now growing at its slowest rate since 2005, with falling food inflation in particular benefiting customers.
“The later timing of Easter and Mother’s Day, which fall in quarter one of our new financial year, and unseasonable weather have also contributed to lower market growth year-on-year,” he added.
Despite the negative numbers, Sainsbury’s reported continuing growth in many areas. It said its convenience business was growing at over 15% and its groceries online arm at 6% year-on-year.
It also said general merchandise and clothing sales performed well, with particularly strong growth in menswear of over 23% year-on-year.
And it added that its own-label penetration now stood at 51% versus 47% for the market.
Sainsbury’s also said store operational standards and in-store execution remained high “as demonstrated by 21 wins over the financial year in the Grocer 33 award, with record high levels of availability”.
King added: “Although some economic indicators are showing an improvement in the health of the economy, we expect the outlook for customers to continue to be challenging for the coming year.
“We remain confident that our differentiated offer, supported by ‘value for values’, Nectar data and Brand Match, will allow us to outperform our peers in the year ahead,” he added.
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