Letter to Mather & Crowther Ltd giving details about Sainsbury's for use in developing an advertising campaign, 20 Jan 1960

Letter (10 pages) from J.L. Woods of Sainsbury's to A. Tennant of Mather & Crowther Ltd. The letter answers a questionnaire sent by Mather & Crowther which appears to have been intended to help them develop plans for television advertising in 1961. The letter does not appear to specifically refer to the advertising campaign but gives much background information detailing many aspects of Sainsbury's trading activities.

It includes information on:
Product groups - percentage of turnover and gross profit of Sainsbury's main product groups, the importance of own brand products compared with nationally marketing brands (giving percentage of sales of various products eg flour which are own-brand), information on quality and freshness, Sainsbury's national market share of various products, scope for expansion, price promotions, comparison of counter service and self service stores, packaging, Special Cure Bacon, potential support from other organizations eg New Zealand Dairy Board for product advertising, expansion plans
Competition - information on Sainsbury's main competitors, the development of new supermarket chains by various companies, competition with food brands, voluntary groups of retailers, cut price competition
Price changes and fluctuations in demand - products with volatile prices, seasonable variations, Christmas, numbers of customers