The company, which recently lost its number two position in the UK grocery market to Wal-Mart-owned Asda, this week unveiled 2500 homeware and cookware lines. It believes these will satisfy customer demand for a non-food offering and grow its 0.6% share of the market.
Keith Evans, the former Marks & Spencer and B&Q executive who joined Sainsbury's last year as trading director for non-foods, said the initial 12-store trial and subsequent roll-out by the end of October would be carefully monitored to assess the potential for stand-alone non-food outlets. "There are no definite plans, but it is something we will look at closely," he said.
The full non-food range consists of soft furnishings, cookware, bedding, home and bathroom accessories, as well as larger ranges of home entertainment products, books and toys. In addition, 1500 own-label and branded products are being added to Sainsbury's health and beauty offering.
The media strategy, overseen by Sainsbury's head of non-food marketing Richard Cristofoli, will cover regional and local advertising, as well as TV ads by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, which will combine food and non-food products for the first time. The TV ads will not feature Jamie Oliver.
There will also be direct marketing activity tied to the Nectar loyalty scheme.
The chain's increasing focus on non-food is reflected by a relaunch of Sainsbury's customer magazine with a women's lifestyle focus.
The relaunch will pit Sainsbury's directly against consumer titles, such as IPC's Family Circle and Essentials, which generate the bulk of their sales from supermarkets, including Sainsbury's.
The new-look publication went on sale yesterday (Wednesday), and will retail for £1.20.
Food and drink coverage is to be reduced to only half of the total content, with more features on beauty, homes, gardens and travel.
Sainsbury's believes the magazine has huge potential to grow - of its 11 million weekly shoppers, only 278,000 currently purchase the magazine.
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