Sainsbury's Tu fashion sales surge in latest quarter

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jul 6, 2021

Much-higher-than-expected sales of Clothing proved to be the icing on the cake for Sainsbury’s as the UK supermarket giant served up mostly positive results for its Q1 trading period to 26 June.

Clothing was the star performer for the 16-week period with total sales leaping, and the firm saying its core Tu label had “recovered strongly”. Sales were up as much as 57.6% year-on-year and full-price sales were up a remarkable 95%. The retailer also noted that those sales were 15.5% higher compared to the pre-pandemic Q1 2019 period.

Sainsbury’s also said it saw “strong growth” in seasonal and womenswear ranges and gained market share in both value and volume terms.

Although General Merchandise sales were lower than last year's elevated levels (falling 1.4% year-on-year) they were also ahead of expectations, “despite global supply challenges which are likely to continue for the remainder of the year”.

Elsewhere, online catalogue retail arm Argos saw sales up 6.7% on a two-year basis, ahead of expectations and guidance, although sales were down year-on year “against exceptionally tough comparatives of the spring 2020 lockdown when many competitors were closed and good weather brought forward seasonal sales”, it said.

Home and Furniture sales were also strong, “boosted by the transition to the Habitat brand and good performance in bedroom and upholstery categories, offset by declines in some categories that performed exceptionally well during lockdown last year".

Overall, both Q1 total and like-for-like sales rose 1.6%, excluding fuel, with totals up 10.3% over a two-year basis. Grocery sales inched up 0.8% (two-year growth up 11.3 %) with online grocery sales rocketing 29% and seeing two-year growth of 142%.

Chief executive Simon Roberts said: “Over the coming months we expect to see customer shopping patterns normalise further and we are well set up to serve them however they want to shop”.