Tu Clothing and Argos outperform for Sainsbury's

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 10, 2018

Sainsbury’s has been growing its Tu clothing operations fast in recent years and the expansion process continued over the Christmas period with the company saying Wednesday that clothing and general merchandise “outperformed” in the 15 weeks to January 6.

OK, clothing was only up 1% in the period, but given the tough times on the UK high street, that was a good result. Sainsbury’s is now the sixth-biggest clothing seller in the UK and the fact that the firm managed to “grow market share and outperform a weak market impacted by warm weather at the start of the autumn/winter season” was impressive.

It may not put it on a growth level enjoyed by fashion industry power brands like Ted Baker and Superdry, but it remains a significant (and growing) player in the UK fashion sector.

Meanwhile its Argos operation, which sells a raft of products online, including clothing, jewellery, décor items, sports goods, toys and electricals, saw sales rising over 8%. 

And the company said Argos enjoyed a good Black Friday and Christmas period.

Having bought Argos despite many analysts doubting the wisdom of the purchase, Sainsbury’s is quickly adding Argos counters and larger Argos spaces in its supermarkets. It expects to open 145 in its 2017/18 financial year, taking the total to 185.

It also opened four Mini Habitat stores in the period covered by Wednesday’s update, bringing the total number of Habitat stores to 15.

And it said that it now has 204 digital collection points in its supermarkets, including 37 in its convenience stores, where customers can collect Argos and eBay items as well as Tu clothing orders.