Online and SmartShop key as Sainsbury's has a cracking Christmas
Sainsbury’s delivered 1.1 million online food orders in the ten days to Christmas, double the number of 2019.
The supermarket announced this as part of a strong Q3 and Christmas performance.
Groceries online sales grew by 128% year-on-year, accounting for 18% of grocery sales.
Sainsbury’s has more than doubled the number of slots it can offer for home delivery and Click & Collect. The latter accounted for 24% of online sales in the Christmas week.
“We have further increased the productivity of our online operation: as we build order capacity from broadly the same fixed asset base, orders per van continue to increase and pick rates have returned to pre-Covid levels,” the retailer said in an online statement.
SmartShop self-scan, meanwhile, accounted for 28% of sales in stores with handsets. And Argos sales grew by over 8% in the quarter, with nearly 90% of those starting online and Fast Track delivery growing by 62%.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive at J Sainsbury, says: “As we enter our third phase of tighter coronavirus restrictions and national lockdowns, my number one priority remains keeping our colleagues and customers safe.”
“The last few months have been really tough for many people and we are all dealing with a lot of change and uncertainty again. Given these challenging circumstances, we really focused on doing the best possible job for our customers this Christmas.”
He adds: ”I would like to say a huge thank you to every one of my colleagues, including the 68,000 colleagues we have recruited into Sainsbury’s and Argos since March, for the outstanding service you gave our customers.”
