According to the Sainsbury’s latest interim results, its online grocery sales grew by 102% over the seven-month period ending 19th September, with digital sales up 117% to £5.8 billion, which accounts for nearly 40% of total sales.
The retailer has reported that its online capacity for groceries has more than doubled this year, with 17% of grocery sales are now online compared with 7% in March.
It is also fulfilling over 700,000 online customer orders per week across home delivery and click and collect.
The figures were released as part of the supermarket’s interim results, which also revealed total sales excluding fuel grew by 7.1% in the same period. Grocery sales were also up by 8.2%, as the supermarket said it has shifted its focus to feeding the nation during the pandemic.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “As we go into lockdown in England for the second time this year and restrictions are in place across the UK, we know our customers and colleagues are feeling anxious and we will do all we can to support them.
“While we are working hard to help feed the nation through the pandemic, we have also spent time thinking about how we deliver for our customers and our shareholders over the longer term.
“We will put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s. We are already working to make this happen – we have lowered prices on over 1,500 every day grocery products over the past few months and we will do more of this, focusing on the staple products that our customers buy every day.”
Roberts added: “Given the unprecedented circumstances of this year and the challenges facing our colleagues, including the changes we are announcing today, I have informed the Board that if a bonus is payable, I will waive any bonus entitlement for this financial year.”
Meat, fish and deli
Sainsbury’s also unveiled plans to close all of its meat, fish and deli counters due to an apparent lack of demand caused by Covid-19.
The retailer says it will save at least £60 million in operating costs by closing the counters and added that the move will also help reduce food waste and energy consumption across its stores. Sainsbury’s revealed that it closed these counters back in March, in order to focus on feeding the nation during the pandemic. It added that, since the closure, feedback from customers has revealed that they are happy buying meat products in the aisle.
