Sainsbury’s has said that growth in the key platforms of convenience and online helped it outstrip rivals in the second quarter.
The supermarket is currently third in the ‘big four’ of UK grocery, behind Tesco and Asda but ahead of Morrisons. However it has been consistently reporting growth and is the only one of the four to increase its market share in the last year.
Total sales for the second quarter rose 4.6% excluding fuel whilst stores open more than one year saw a sales rise of 2% excluding fuel.
Total first half sales were also up 4% excluding fuel and like-for-like sales were up 1.4%.
Justin King, chief executive, said: "We have delivered strong sales over the quarter, continuing to outperform the market in what remains a tough retail environment. We are the only major supermarket to be growing market share.
“Over the quarter we opened 31 convenience stores and five new supermarkets, adding 307,000 square feet to the estate. We remain on track to deliver our target of around one million square feet for the year.
Although we are starting to see encouraging signs in key economic indicators, our customers' approach to savvy shopping, which started at the beginning of the downturn, has persisted and continues to help them to Live Well for Less. By continuing to focus on high quality, unique and innovative own-brand products we are ideally placed to perform well coming into the key Christmas period."