Sainsbury's says almost all shoppers have ditched online to shop in-store

Sainsbury's says almost everyone now shops in store. Sainsbury's says shoppers are returning to its stores as the surge in online shopping seen during the Covid pandemic continues to unwind across the country amid the Cost of Living crisis.

The UK's second largest supermarket said online sales had been above 20% at the height of the pandemic, but are now back to about 13%. Chief executive Simon Roberts said that more than 87% of all food sold was done so "in a physical store".

"It is going to take a change in interest rates later in the year - let's hope - for the environment on discretionary spend begin to change," said Mr Roberts. In its trading update, Sainsbury's said: "We are building on this momentum and the strength of our position in the UK grocery market through our Next Level Sainsbury’s strategy, announced in February."

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The supermarket giant, which is rivalled by Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Lidl, and Aldi, said: "We expect to continue to outperform the grocery market and for this volume advantage to drive strong profit leverage in the year ahead, with retail underlying operating profit of between £1,010 million and £1,060 million, growth of between five per cent and ten per cent.

"Reflecting the strength of our balance sheet and our commitment to deliver enhanced shareholder returns, we announced in February that we will buy back £200 million of shares in 2024/25. We will commence the buyback programme tomorrow."

Retail underlying operating profit of £966 million, up 4.3 per cent, with volume-driven grocery profit growth and continued strong delivery of cost savings partially offset by weaker General Merchandise profits. Sainsbury's says it grew Groceries Online ahead of the market in the second half, supporting its strong grocery sales momentum.

Increased customer numbers are driving higher sales volumes and the stores have improved customer satisfaction and retention through better availability and the launch of Your Nectar Prices on Groceries Online, it says. It has also expanded the On Demand business to 1,157 stores, resulting in 69 per cent sales growth year-on-year.