11/07/2001

SAFEWAY MAKE STRONG START TO NEW FINANCIAL YEAR

SAFEWAY has recorded significant sales increases in the first quarter of the financial year for all its retail operations throughout the province.

Overall sales, stimulated by the growth of new stores opened last year, grew by 6.3 per cent compared with last year. In addition Northern Ireland sales in June increased by 13 per cent, which were driven, according to Chairman of Safeway David Webster, by a combination of rising customer numbers and average spend.

In an effort to revamp their image, Safeway have recently launched two marketing campaigns in order to redress the supermarket balance. Their ‘Best at Fresh initiative’ shows a totally new way of merchandising that allows shoppers to see the freshness and quality of Safeway products and represents an investment in excess of £1.5 million.

Carlos Criado-Perez, Safeway Chief Executive said: “We have made a strong start to the year and we are making great progress with our ranges, particularly in fresh foods and we are accelerating our investment in reducing prices. We have just announced even more investment behind our outstanding offers with our ‘Biggest Savings Ever’ campaign, which will give Safeway customers another £120 million of savings a year and which will make Safeway’s shopping basket even cheaper.”

Peter Darroch, Area Manager for Northern Ireland said: “We are beginning to roll out our new ‘Best At Fresh’ programme throughout our twelve stores here which will see a total investment in excess of £1.5 million. ‘Best At Fresh’ lets us display the products in a way which shows them not the packaging and also gives us the opportunity to once again increase Safeway’s use of local suppliers which is at the core of our strategy.” (AMcE)

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