Sainsbury’s online groceries business is growing by more than a quarter, the supermarket said today.
Online sales were improving by more than 25%, said the supermarket as it unveiled its financial results for the first half of its financial year. Total sales, including VAT and excluding fuel, grew by 4.8% to £11.9bn and like-for-like sales by 2% in the 28 weeks to October 2, compared to the same time last year. Pre-tax profits rose by 36.3% to £466m, up from £342m last time.
Chief executive Justin King said: “We are pleased with the growth of our channels and services as we continue to extend our offer to more customers.
“We now have over 340 Convenience stores, online sales are growing by over 25% and the bank has delivered strong profit growth.”
In its online business, Sainsbury’s said annual sales were up by more than 20% while weekly orders regularly topped 120,000. More than 90% of UK households can now order groceries online for home delivery from Sainsbury’s. The supermarket’s ‘Click & Collect’ service is now available at more than 140 stores and, said Sainsbury’s, “has been well received by customers.”
At the same time, Sainsbury’s said the number of customers it served each week, across its channels, was now at an “all-time high,” at more than 20m transactions a week.
Looking ahead, King said the economic environment would continue to be challenging. But, he said: “We remain confident that our universal customer appeal, combined with our strong space growth momentum, mean we are in a good position to perform well in this environment.”
