Shoppers’ late festive dash gives Sainsbury’s lift as staff get 5% pay rise

London: Sainsbury’s had a pretty good holiday season, thanks to last-minute shoppers. Their grocery sales jumped by 3.8% in the weeks leading up to January 4. It seems folks were really scrambling to get their Christmas shopping done.

Customers were out in droves, buying up a storm right before Christmas. This surge helped Sainsbury’s, while their Argos chain saw a slight increase of 1.1% during the same time. It looks like they’re doing better than some of the smaller competitors like Asda and Morrisons.

However, not everything was rosy. Argos, which sells a mix of items from toys to electronics, saw a drop of 1.4% in sales over the last quarter of the year. They mentioned that while more people were shopping during Black Friday and Christmas, spending outside those times was pretty low.

People were cutting back on non-essentials, especially toys and big electronics. To help their staff, Sainsbury’s is giving a 5% pay rise to 118,000 employees, which will be rolled out in two parts this year.

This pay bump comes as other retailers, like Greggs, are also raising wages but increasing prices on some items to cover costs. Sainsbury’s is gaining market share, with more customers choosing them for their weekly groceries, especially fresh produce.

Interestingly, shoppers were willing to splurge a bit more on their premium products, spending 16% more on the Taste the Difference range. Clothing sales also saw a small rise, which is impressive given the current market trends.

Overall, Sainsbury’s is on track to meet its profit expectations of over £1 billion for the retail side of things. Analysts are optimistic, but some caution that the strong grocery sales might not be enough to offset the weaker performance from Argos.