Like-for-like sales for the second quarter to October 8 were up 2.8%, excluding petrol, beating analyst expectations.
Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, attributed some of the gain to its new £10m Jamie Oliver ad campaign.
"An important event during the quarter has been the relaunch of our brand supported by our 'Try something new today' advertising campaign. The ad campaign builds on Sainsbury's heritage of quality and value and the initial customer reaction has been pleasing," he said.
Sainsbury's launched the campaign, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, last month, dropping the "Making life taste better" strapline after six years. The idea behind the new slogan is to give shoppers "inspiration", and different ads see Oliver giving ideas such as putting apples with sausages and nutmeg on spaghetti.
King added: "Encouraging current customers to complete more of their weekly shop with us again is key to reaching our sales growth target."
Sainsbury's has set a recovery strategy aimed at boosting sales by £2.5bn by March 2008.
Sainsbury's cost cutting over the last year has aided recovery by closing the gap between itself and better-performing rivals such as Tesco.
"Over the last year, we have invested in thousands of price reductions and we believe we now have industry-matching availability," King said. "We will continue to respond as necessary to ensure our offer remains competitive.
Total sales for the second quarter were up 5.4%, excluding petrol and 6.6% with.
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