Sainsbury’s pushes ‘personalised value’ as sales see steady rise

As Sainsbury’s sees sales soar again, it is dialling up its focus on “personalised value” as it heads into the golden quarter.

In its interim results for the 28 weeks to 13 September, the retailer reported group sales (excluding fuel) rose 5.2%, with grocery sales up 5.3% and general merchandise and clothing sales up 3.3%.

Argos sales were also up 2.3% although fuel sales declined 11.3%.

Grocery online sales increased by 11.4%, and retail underlying profit rose 0.2% compared to the same time last year to £504m. These successes follow the brand reaching its highest market share since 2016 back in July.

Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, told Marketing Week on a media call today (6 November) that in the upcoming golden quarter the brand is focusing on “personalised value”, and that customers are “loving” personalised Nectar prices as it allows them to get “their own value unique to them”.

“Personalised value more and more is going to play a very important role in winning in this industry,” said Roberts, claiming that the retailer’s success in this space is translating to its market share win of almost a million more primary customers in the past five years.

Market share grew for a fifth consecutive year, while prices had “never been stronger” compared to competitors, according to the CEO, who added it was the only grocer to improve price and customer value perceptions year on year.

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Roberts also said the group increased its investment in marketing in the second half, including a “big focus on value” through its price match campaign, which ran through the summer on the ‘Everyday Essentials’ range.

This forms part of the brand’s £1bn investment in improving value and quality, as the retailer is halfway through its three-year strategic ‘Next Level’ plan, which was set out in 2024 and has four pillars: food, Argos, Nectar Prices, and saving and investing.

“We ran in parallel for the first time, actually, a big focus on Taste the Difference. It’s the first time through a summer period we’ve run a big value and quality campaign side by side. Actually, we saw the best response on that for a Sainsbury’s brand campaign on Taste the Difference at any point since 2013,” said the CEO.

He added that the marketing teams across Sainsbury’s and Argos were doing a “brilliant job”, and the team is “really pleased” with its Christmas campaign. Last week, Sainsbury’s marketing director, Radha Davies, told Marketing Week that the Christmas campaign was the “climax of this year’s work” around value.

Additionally, Sainsbury’s chief technology, data and marketing officer Mark Given was named Marketer of the Year at the Marketing Week Awards last month.

Going ahead, Roberts said its job is in “speaking to how customers really trust our value every single day” and claimed the brand’s quality sets it apart alongside value.

“There’s no space for complacency in anything that we do. We’ve got to be absolutely on it for customers, whether that be on price, on quality, on availability,” said Roberts, adding that “great value, trusted quality and leading service” are the “winning combination”.

This is an ethos the brand is taking forward with Tu Clothing, which saw a 7.8% increase in sales, as the brand used TikTok for the first time to highlight its Christmas pyjama range.

“It’s been brilliant actually to get some really good connection in the digital social media space of customers, and the feedback and the interest in our Christmas pyjamas already is very high,” said Roberts.

Driving value

The brand’s Nectar price loyalty scheme has been a key driver in its efforts to increase value and price perceptions, and gives the brand a “unique competitive advantage”. On an £80 shop, customers are saving an average of £14 through Nectar pricing. Earlier in the year, it rolled out more personalised Nectar pricing, with 10,000 products now available on the scheme.

Nectar pricing also benefits the Nectar360 retail media business, which is on track to deliver at least £100m in incremental profit over the three years to March 2027, with 900 clients and media agencies supporting it so far. It is also on track to roll out centre aisle screens to 200 stores by the end of this year.

Alongside this, the brand claimed to have the “biggest Aldi price match in the market”, with around 800 products. The Taste the Difference range also saw fresh sales rise by 18%, with items from the range now found in one in three baskets. It also revealed that 65% of customers shopped both Aldi Price Match and Taste the Difference products in the same basket during the half.

More Argos, more often

Though Sainsbury’s sales did rise, Roberts noted the brand made “slightly less” as it focused on supporting customers during the cost of living, this was offset by Argos, though, which is on an “upward trajectory”.

Roberts said the business is “really encouraged” with Argos’ performance in the first half, and is focusing on value throughout the rest of the year. Argos’ Big Red events so far were said to have “supported improved value perception”.

“We need to have really strong value for this Christmas. We actually launched the first phase of our Black Friday offers last Friday. We went earlier this year, with the first phase and great offers last weekend, and had good initial reaction from customers,” said the CEO, which he claimed was important as consumers are more likely to be “cautious” this Christmas.

Wider goals for Argos are related to “building a more profitable business”, “improving the customer proposition” and “investing in the product range”, while building its reputation for “convenience and value”.

With around 80% of all Argos sales now through digital channels, it is also “increasingly focused” on “personalisation within the Argos digital experience”, providing recommendations based on customers’ browsing behaviour.

It is also trialling Argos Plus, a 12-month subscription for free delivery on all orders greater than £20, and reported that more customers are using the app since it has been upgraded.

The company claimed it is “growing brand awareness and consideration of Argos as a destination for desirable, premium products”, namely through social media and its podcast.

Its ‘Arghaüs’ influencer series is part of that success, with its influencer lead Hannah Bussell previously telling Marketing Week that it drove a 228% increase in engagement on the retailer’s social media channels from June to the start of August.

In that time period, it also attracted 5,000 new followers for the brand. Average overall reach rose 202%, average views per post increased by 170% and positive sentiment towards the Argos brand rose 35%.