Sainsbury’s reported a strong Q3 performance, with like-for-like sales increasing by 3.4% in the 16 weeks to 3 January 2026 year-over-year.

The retailer saw its grocery sales increase by 5.4%, with fresh food sales up 8% during the quarter. Sainsbury’s premium private label line Taste the Difference fresh food sales increased by 15%.

Total retail sales (excluding fuel) increased by 3.9% in Q3, with a significant contribution from online grocery sales, which rose 14%.

During the quarter, sales for general merchandise and clothing at Argos decreased by 1.1% and 1%, respectively.

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Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “We have won grocery market share for the sixth consecutive Christmas period, again delivering our winning combination of value, quality, service and availability for customers.

“When we strengthened our profit guidance in November, we said we planned to invest in the strength of our competitive position through the most important trading period of the year.”

Following the strong performance, Sainsbury’s raised its future outlook and expects to achieve a retail free cash flow of over £550m compared to the previous forecast of £500m.

Additionally, due to investments that led to strong grocery trading momentum and market share gains, Sainsbury’s expects to deliver a retail underlying operating profit of over £1bn.

Roberts added: “We expected the market to become more competitive with customers spending more carefully, and we invested in balanced choices to offer great value for money, outstanding quality and innovation, and leading customer service and availability, both in store and online.”