‘By Sainsbury’s’ brand extended to homeware

From next month “By Sainsbury’s” will be introduced across all Sainsbury’s general merchandise – except clothing, which will retain the Tu brand – following its success since it was introduced across food in September last year. The supermarket claims 97 per cent of its customers are already buying “By Sainsbury’s” products.

The “By Sainsbury’s” brand will replace Tu, a few lines currently branded “Sainsbury’s” and there will also be new introductory lines under the new banner.

A “significant” marketing campaign will support the rollout will launch in 2014, once the majority of lines have been replaced or introduced to help customers navigate the breadth of the range.

Robbie Feather, Sainsbury’s director of general merchandise, says: “There is a huge amount of existing loyalty for By Sainsbury’s, driven by its success across our food category. Moving the brand into general merchandise recognises the opportunity to capitalise on this success and extend the loyalty further across the business.”

Non-food ranges grew at over twice the rate of food at Sainsbury’s in the 12 weeks to 8 June, with particularly strong sales in kitchen electricals (34 per cent growth year on year) and cookware (up 23 per cent year on year).

Sainsbury’s is the only “big four” supermarket not to lose share in the past year, with year on year growth of 3.8 per cent, according to the most recent data from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 7 July.

Kantar says recent price matching campaigns at the larger retailers have served to shine a spotlight on private label quality versus major brands, with Sainsbury’s “Taste the Different” range one of the star performers in the past three months.

Earlier this month Sainsbury’s and Vodafone announced the launch of a new virtual mobile network in a move to directly rival Tesco Mobile.