Sainsbury’s sales slip over the Christmas period

Sales at Sainsbury’s fell slightly in the weeks around the crucial Christmas period.

The supermarket revealed that like-for-like sales in the 15 weeks before 4 January were 0.7% lower than the same period last year.

The firm’s boss, Mike Coupe, said said sales of toy and gaming products at Argos, which is owned by Sainsbury’s, were worse than last year.

Nevertheless, he said the company had delivered a “real sense of momentum”.

Data released by two research firms, Nielsen and Kantar, on Tuesday suggested that Sainsbury’s was the least worst performer among the so-called “big four” supermarkets over the all-important Christmas period.

Morrisons reported a 1.7% drop in like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, for the 22 weeks to 5 January.

The company said: “Throughout the period, trading conditions remained challenging and the customer uncertainty of the last year was sustained.”