By Editor Emily Hawkins
Sainsbury’s boss urges business rates rethink as cost pressures grow
Strong demand for clothes and food lifts market share
By EMILY HAWKINS
Updated: 09:23 BST, 1 July 2025
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts has urged the Government to consider a business rates shake-up as Britain’s supermarkets faces growing competition and price pressures.
It came as Sainsbury’s toasted higher sales and its highest market share in almost decade amid ‘very high’ levels of competition.
Britain’s second largest supermarket behind Tesco saw like-for-like sales rise 4.7 per cent in the 16 weeks to 21 June – an improvement from 3.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
Boss Roberts said the group is ‘heading into this summer in strong shape’ despite moves made by supermarket rivals stirring talk of a looming price war.
He said there have been ‘big uplifts’ in sales for summer staples including ice cream, strawberries, burgers and paddling pools in recent weeks, as ‘customers have turned to us more and more to make the most of the sunshine’.
Sainsbury’s market share hit 15 per cent, its highest slice since 2016, according to market research firm Kantar.
And the group said it is on track for an annual retail underlying operating profit of around £1billion.
This is down from the £1.04billion achieved last year as Sainsbury’s said it would stand by its pledge to remain competitive on pricing.
Sainsbury’s chief exec Simon Robert said the group is set to deliver ‘another strong performance over the summer’
Rivals, including Asda and Tesco, have thrown down the gauntlet on pricing by insisting they will slash the costs of thousands of products.
Sainsbury’s boss Roberts said there was a ‘very high level of competition’ among grocers.
‘There’s no doubt that this is a very competitive market, there’s no doubt that others are looking to improve their position,’ he added.
‘We know how important it is that we provide consistently great value and we have built further on our strong competitive position, improving our prices against all key competitors year-on-year.
‘We’re now offering even more opportunities for customers to save on the items they buy most often through the biggest Aldi Price Match commitment in the market, covering around 800 everyday essentials.
‘As a result, our Value for Money customer satisfaction scores are the highest they have ever been.’
RELATED ARTICLES
M&S food sales growth slowed as cyber attack forced online… M&S, Ocado and Waitrose are latest supermarkets to back…
Share this article
Pressure to lower prices comes as Britain’s retailers are grappling with higher employment and supply costs.
‘There is still inflationary pressure in the system,’ Roberts said, as he also highlighted recent spikes in the price of commodities such as beef and cocoa.
And UK retailers have been whacked with an extra £5billion in costs this year, following Labour’s Autumn Budget last year.
Rachel Reeves hit the sector with a barrage of National Insurance and national minimum wage rises, while reducing business rate relief.
‘We have got to be very conscious of the amount of costs coming to the industry,’ Roberts said.
The slew of higher employer costs is ‘one of the reasons why we continue to make the point as strongly as we can that business rates need to move in the right direction,’ he added.
Business rates are a levy charged on commercial properties. Bricks-and-mortar retailers claim they suffer an unfair business rates burden compared with online giants such as Amazon.
Roberts said: ‘They are a very significant tax burden on the retail industry. We need to really understand how unfair business rates currently are and why they’re such a punitive tax on retail and why they impact jobs.’
Many have warned Labour’s plan to address the issue – by hitting larger commercial properties with higher taxes – will backfire.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op, as well as Frasers, have said this risks large retailers abandoning shops.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
Easy investing and ready-made portfolios
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown
Free fund dealing and investment ideas
interactive investor
interactive investor
Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month
InvestEngine
InvestEngine
Account and trading fee-free ETF investing
Trading 212
Trading 212
Free share dealing and no account fee
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.
Compare the best investing account for you
Share or comment on this article:
Sainsbury’s boss urges business rates rethink as cost pressures grow
Add comment