Sainsbury enjoy online sales boost

Friday, June 15, 2012 - 14:00 by Mike Price

Sainsbury's is one of the UK's major retailers managing to cling onto growth, despite the tough economic climate, with safe shopping online allowing it to make headway over the past three months.

This week, it reported that the total like for like sales over the past quarter were up by 1.4 per cent, which is relatively modest in the scheme of things. However, it was its e-commerce arm that made the biggest impact, with a 20 per cent rise in sales helping to boost the business as a whole.

Interestingly, the company also saw bricks and mortar sales increase by 16 per cent, but not in its supermarket outlets. Instead it was the smaller, local Sainsbury's stores that were able to secure this leap.

Industry expert, Jo Causon, said that the competitive nature of the UK's retail market made it difficult for supermarkets to find a foothold.

Causon also said that the lack of confidence amongst consumers was proving to be problematic and indeed Tesco has recently reported on its own rather worrying performance figures, which followed its first profit warning for two decades, earlier in 2012.

It is thought that Sainsbury's has been able to buck the trend through a combination of excellent service via safe shopping online, as well as value for money across all of its platforms.

Of course, the very fact that it is taking a multi-platform approach and not focusing on one single area of its business, is also going to be beneficial.

Things like the recent Jubilee celebrations will have boosted supermarket sales, although most experts believe that this is not going to make the difference between stagnation and successful growth for the biggest chains.

Increasing sales made by home computers, as well as portable devices, is going to set Sainsbury's in good stead for the future.