SAINSBURY’S put more pressure on rival Tesco as growth in convenience shopping and the popularity of its own ranges helped it exceed sales hopes.
The UK’s third largest supermarket chain, which has more than 1,000 stores, said like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose by 2.6% in the 10 weeks to March 17, compared with City expectations for a rise of 2.1%.
Sainsbury’s increased its share of the convenience store market, with sales up by 20% following the opening of 15 new stores.
It also claimed to be the fastest growing online grocer with trading up more than a fifth after it served an average of 165,000 customers a week.
Grocery sales were supported by its Brand Match price guarantee.
