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Sainsbury’s has increased book sales by 20% in its second quarter, considerably above the supermarket's total like-for-like sales increase of 1.9%.
For the 16 weeks to 29th September, the supermarket grew total sales by 4.4% excluding fuel, boosted by the company’s sponsorship of the Paralympic Games, which immediately followed the country’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The books category was boosted largely by the E L James Fifty Shades series, a spokesman said. Sainsbury's will begin to sell Nook e-reader devices this month and it grew its online business over 20% year-on-year.
Justin King, Sainsbury’s c.e.o. said: "This has been a unique and special summer, during which we have delivered another quarter of good sales, outperforming the market in what remains a challenging retail environment.”
Tesco sales by contrast, in the three months to August 25, were up 0.1% compared with the same period a year earlier after stripping out store openings, sales tax and petrol purchases.
The company’s first-half pre-tax profit fell 12 per cent to £1.66bn—its first such decline in two decades after it invested heavily in a UK turnaround plan and hit obstacles in central Europe and Asia. Tesco declined to strip out its book sales.