A tree-shaped charcuterie sharing board and a row of houses made from chocolate mousse are the centrepieces of a multimillion-pound corporate tussle between supermarkets this Christmas, with executives at Sainsbury’s hoping the quirky festive food can help it outmuscle rivals.
The Charcuter Tree and Home for Christmas mousse are among 300 own-brand products the UK’s second largest grocer has introduced this winter, with Sainsbury’s vowing to jazz up the traditional “beige” Christmas spread in an effort to lure shoppers from competitors.
“Party food has an image of being a bit beige and I think we’ve really disrupted that this year,” says Tassy Goodall, a development chef manager who helps to devise the products at the company’s headquarters in central London. “Customers want tradition and nostalgia repackaged at Christmas. There’s always a place for the beige stuff … it taps into that nostalgia.”
The retailer has put the new products at the centre of its Christmas advert, which also features a cameo from 1980s pop star Rick Astley, browsing the cheese aisle.
“Given the huge challenges everyone is facing in the cost of living crisis, we’re making sure our own brand ranges present the best value, great quality and really give customers a strong alternative,” says the retailer’s chief executive, Simon Roberts, on a call from the Sainsbury’s store in Sydenham, south London.
“We focused on innovation,” he adds, struggling to make himself heard over the jangle of Christmas music.
This is a pivotal golden quarter for Roberts, who took over in the teeth of the pandemic, in June 2020. By that November, he had laid out a plan to “put food back at the heart of this company” (while cutting 3,500 jobs) and improve competition on price with rivals.
A £700m drive to push down prices in the face of rampant inflation (and accusations of “greedflation”) ensued. “What we heard from many customers was they wanted to shop at Sainsbury’s but we just weren’t competitive enough. Three years on, going into this Christmas, we’re at our most competitive ever,” Roberts says.
Progress appears positive, with profit on course for the upper end of forecasts and the company stating last month that it was winning back shoppers from Aldi and Lidl. Its stock is up by a third this year, valuing the company at £7bn. Figures released last week showed Sainsbury’s had its biggest market share gain in a decade in the past three months, holding 15.6% of grocery spend.
Own-label lines appear to be the driver: demand for its premium Taste the Difference products grew 23% on last year in the final quarter, beating the 15.4% growth in own brand across the industry. Its Christmas lines also include bao buns with edible holly leaves, “naughty and nice chicken chunks” and a Tiramichoux dessert: tiramisu topped with profiteroles.
Shoppers often grumble that Christmas products land in the shops earlier each year and behind the scenes the push has been advanced, too. Claire Hughes, the director of product development and innovation, says planning for winter 2024 has already started, and was brought forward from November to September this year. Product ideas are tested early with groups of customers, shopping data pored over and packaging – such as the unusual-shaped bottle for its sticky toffee gin liqueur – are procured early.
It doesn’t always hit the mark: Hughes recalls a rose and prosecco-glazed gammon in 2018 that flopped. “I have learned over the years not to do anything too adventurous with meat-based products,” she laughs.
Roberts will doubtless be able to fill his table with all the trimmings this year, after landing a 36% pay rise and taking home £4.9m, but he has a keen eye on price, noting that the cost of living crisis challenges for Britons remain “significant” and adds “we’ve been trying to bust inflation as much as we can for customers”.
Beyond Christmas, the picture remains uncertain, but he is hopeful that interest rates will start to come down in the second half of 2024.
“Households are coping with higher mortgages, higher rents, this is a very competitive market and we’ll continue to make sure we give customers leading value – that’s going to be really important going into a year where there’s likely to be a lot more change again,” he says. “There’s change politically, economically, lots of parts of society that need support. There’s a lot to do.”
