British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has noticed that consumers are economising on their purchases and are switching to cheaper own brands. The retailer will invest hundreds of millions in price reductions.
Budget under pressure
Shoppers are now watching “every penny and every pound”, says Simon Roberts, the CEO of Sainsbury’s. He expects the pressure on household budgets to intensify for the rest of the year. “We really understand how hard it is for millions of households right now and that’s why we are investing 500 million pound (584 million euros) and doing everything we can to keep our prices low, especially on the products customers buy most often.”
Sainsbury’s saw sales fall 4% in the first quarter of its broken financial year. The group’s supermarkets held up well, falling just 2.4% compared to a strong quarter in 2021, when restrictive corona measures were still in place. However, non-food chains Argos and Habitat suffered more, with sales of clothing down 10% and general merchandise down 11%.
