17th Mar 2015 07:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC Tuesday reported a drop in sales in the fourth quarter of its financial year, despite price reductions and a volume increase across the business.
The supermarket chain said total retail sales were down 0.3% excluding fuel in the 10 weeks to March 14, and down 2.7% including fuel. Like-for-like sales were down 1.9% excluding fuel, and down 3.9% including fuel for the fourth quarter.
These results come despite a price reduction in over 1,100 products following a GBP150 million price investment in November, although the supermarket says it has seen volume growth across the food business and an average uplift of over 3% on the price-reduced products.
During the quarter, the grocer's online business saw order numbers increase by 14%, with a record week of 245,000 orders.
"We expect the market to remain challenging for the foreseeable future. Food deflation is likely to persist for the rest of this calendar year, and competitive pressures on price will continue," said Chief Executive Mike Coupe in a statement.
"However, we believe that the great value and quality of our products, combined with a strong focus on developing our multi-channel offer, will enable us to outperform our supermarket peers," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected]
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