Strong performance from new stores has helped US natural food retailer Sprouts Farmers Markets achieve year-to-date sales growth of 8% and net sales of $4.3 billion.
The Pheonix, Arizona-headquartered business operates 335 mostly supermarket-size stores in 22 states, and reported annual sales of $5.2 million in 2018 (up 12% on 2017).
The company announced its third quarter results last week, reporting a sales and profit increase also of 8%, for the 13-week period ending September 29. While store footfall has been lower in 2019, this has been more than compensated for by an increase in average basket size.
“I am even more excited about the future of this company than I was three short months ago,” said Jack Sinclair, who joined Sprouts as CEO in late June.
Sinclair that Sprouts would continue with its expansion plan this year – the company is on track to open 28 stores – but hinted there would be a change of strategy in 2020.
In 2018 the retailer started opening new larger format stores, featuring enhanced fresh food and deli fixtures. But these have turned out to be more expensive to operate, and less profitable than older, traditional locations.
“As we evaluate and potentially modify our store format, we’re going to slightly slow growth to potentially 20 stores in 2020,” Sinclair said.