Sainsbury’s reports impressive Christmas sales.

British supermarket Sainsbury’s has witnessed its best Christmas performance ever, completing an impressive third quarter.

Despite the worsening consumer market, Sainsbury’s has reported a strong sales growth over the seasonal period. In the 13 weeks to Christmas, Sainsbury’s has seen like-for-like sales rise by 4.5% and total sales are up 5.35%, excluding petrol.

Customer numbers have also been on the increase with a total of 22.6 million customers in the seven days before Christmas. On 23 December, Sainsbury’s experienced its busiest trading day to date.

Part of the success can be attributed to the Sainsbury’s basics range – sales figures for the basics range are up by 40%.

The third quarter also saw an expansion for the supermarket chain with six new stores opening up across the UK.

The company said its online sales delivered a record number of orders in the week before Christmas and has grown by 27% over the quarter.

Sainsbury’s own brand clothing range Tu also fared well, with a 2.3% share in the clothing market. The firm is now the eighth largest retailer by volume in the UK clothing industry.

Justin King, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, remains positive about the future. He said: “The economic environment remains particularly challenging and we expect this to continue in 2009, however our continued investment in price and promotions along with universal appeal and a wide customer base means we are well positioned to continue our good progress.”