Sainsbury’s released its half-year results on Thursday and while the news was good for it generally, its non-food ops didn’t do so well. But fashion was a strong performer within that non-food category.

Overall Sainsbury’s sales (excluding fuel) were up 4.6%, with Grocery sales growth of 5% and Sainsbury’s General Merchandise & Clothing sales combined down 1.5%. Argos sales were down 5%. It didn’t give monetary figures for those divisions.

That 1.5% GM and fashion fall was largely down to the first quarter as combined sales at that point fell 4.3% with Q2 seeing a recovery to rise 2.2%.

Retail underlying operating profit of £503 million was up 3.7% in the 28 weeks to mid-September, with strong Sainsbury’s and Nectar growth partially offset by the lower Argos contribution.

Looking more closely at fashion for the supermarket giant, Tu Clothing sales grew 1.3% during the first half, benefitting from stronger Q2 sales growth of 8.3%. 

“Significant improvements in availability and style have driven market share gains,” it said, while it saw “a strong performance in Womenswear over the summer, with sales growth of 10% in Q2”. 

Its AW24 range “is benefitting from our renewed focus on design and our Christmas clothing ranges are already performing significantly ahead of last year. We have also identified additional opportunities to improve our essentials range as well as our kids and babywear offering,” it explained.

As for GM, specific Sainsbury’s General Merchandise sales declined 4.4%, driven by softer demand for consumer electronics and toys within the Sainsbury’s channel and the early impact of space reallocation.

It said it’s making strong progress in repositioning the Habitat brand, with Habitat sales ahead of last year as “our focus on design-led collaborations resonates with customers”.

Back with Argos, it said that in a “highly competitive General Merchandise market, our strategic focus is on increasing the frequency of customer visits and growing basket size, alongside continuing to reduce costs and complexity within the Argos operating model. We are taking focused action to strengthen the breadth and depth of our ranges and improve our digital experience whilst at the same time reducing cost to serve. After a difficult first quarter, we are making progress in delivering our key change programmes and further strengthening capabilities and capacity to deliver transformation across Argos”.

Argos sales were below its expectations in the half, primarily reflecting a slow start to the summer and a reduction in online traffic. 

Profit margins were impacted by lower sales, leading to heavier promotional activity and discounting, particularly in seasonal categories. This was partially offset by operating cost reductions. 

Sales strengthened during Q2 and into the early weeks of the third quarter, “reflecting strategic actions we have taken to improve customer traffic and volume trends, disciplined clearance activity and better weather against a weaker comparative”.