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Sainsbury's reports first signs of "Delia Effect"

SAINSBURY’S REPORTS FIRST SIGNS OF THE NATIONWIDE DELIA EFFECT, 2008

- Jus-Rol pastry, Aunt Bessie’s frozen mash and Italian meats are three early winners

- Additional Sainsbury’s “Delia-ivery” vans on stand-by to ship stocks of key ingredients to stores

- Brisk sales of “How to cheat at cooking” at Sainsbury’s stores throughout the UK

Sainsbury’s store throughout the UK are reporting the first signs of the anticipated “Delia Effect” as Britain enters the first weekend of food retail sales after the launch of Britain’s most famous cook’s latest book. Extra Sainsbury’s “Delia-ivery” vans are on stand-by to transport additional stocks of ingredients endorsed by Delia Smith.

Stores throughout the UK are reporting strong sales of the book and there are early signs of a rush on some of the ingredients that Delia Smith recommends in her latest book. “Customers are picking up the book and using it as a shopping list,” said Ben Williams, duty manager at Sainsbury’s in St Albans.

“Ready-made pastry is doing very well and it is my bet as a real winner,” said Mark Conlin, duty manager at Sainsbury’s in Godalming. “Italian meats are also doing well and so is Aunt Bessie’s mashed potato.”

Convenient potato products are a consistent theme throughout the new cook book. “The chocolate cupcakes recipe, which contains frozen mashed potato, has been a bit of a surprise and perhaps we’ll have to look at ways in which we can bring potato and chocolate closer together in our stores,” Ben Williams added.

Amongst the other ingredients doing well at Sainsbury’s this weekend are: Sicilian sausages, three-cheese sauce, anchovy fillets, marigold bouillon powder, dried porcini, pine nuts, parma ham, tortellini, trofie pasta and pancetta.

“We’ve seen customers doing a double visit to our stores today,” said Ben Williams. “Customers are buying the book, then popping to the cafe for a quick think and wandering back in to buy ingredients for the evening meal.”

“The test of the Delia Effect is whether customers are bulk buying a product”, said Mark Conlin. “We’ve seen some customers buy half a dozen packs of Aunt Bessie’s, which shows that Delia is really having an impact already.”

“The convenience element looks like a winner,” Mark Conlin added. “It looks as if men especially are buying into the simplicity of the recipes and making a Valentine’s week effort to woo their girlfriends and wives with a meal.”

- Ends –

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