Supermarket group Sainsbury’s, owners of furniture brand Habitat and catalogue retailer Argos, has reported a growth in Q3 sales.

According to its third quarter trading update for the 16 weeks to 3 January 2026, total sales rose 3.9%, driven by Sainsbury’s – up by 4.9%.

General Merchandise revenues were down 1.1%, while Argos sales also fell 1% during the period.

“The Argos transformation plan continues to make progress, delivering volume growth across the whole quarter despite significant headwinds from online traffic trends, a tough and promotional general merchandise market and weak consumer confidence,” the group said.

“Volume growth in the third quarter was more than offset by the impact of lower average selling price across the market. This was driven by subdued spending on higher ticket items such as furniture, heavy promotional activity and a weak gaming market.

“We gained share and grew sales in Homewares, Electricals and Toys, with Habitat sales up 6% and sales from our relaunched Chad Valley range up 7%, ahead of our expectations.”