According to the results of a new study in the UK, the majority of Britons believe that Sainsbury’s will be the next big company to go bust. The most common reason given for the predicted end of Sainsbury’s was the recent ‘financial losses’ of the company, whilst the majority of respondents admitting that they ‘never’ did their grocery shopping there.
Initially, all respondents were asked ‘Which major company do you predict will be the most likely to go bust next?’ Respondents were presented with an extensive list of major companies and brands, before being asked to select one from this list.
The top five companies selected by the respondents was Sainsbury’s, followed by Sports Direct, luxury handbag brand Mulberry and then against many economist data Poundland, with Tesco completing the list.
Next, all respondents who selected Sainsbury’s were asked to reveal why they thought the retailer would be the next major company to go bust. A majority of respondents revealed that they thought this due to the company’s ‘recent financial losses’.
A further 27 per cent revealed that they believed Sainsbury’s would go bust due to the ‘high prices’ of its products, whilst 22 per cent of the relevant respondents selected ‘the rise of budget supermarkets’ as the reason behind their decision.
The same group of respondents were then asked to reveal how long they thought it would be until Sainsbury’s went bust. Whilst a majority of 34 per cent of respondents believed it would happen in the next 5 years, 23 per cent believed it would be gone in around 10 years’ time. 4 per cent believed Sainsbury’s would go bust within a year.
Following on from this, respondents were asked about their shopping activity at the store. A majority of 55 per cent of respondents revealed that they ‘never’ did their grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s; whilst 21 per cent said they had stopped shopping there within the last year.
When asked what they thought Sainsbury’s should do to avoid going bust, over half of respondents indicated that the supermarket giant should ‘cut prices’. A further 31 per cent said that they thought Sainsbury’s should ‘close some stores’, whilst the remaining 13 per cent indicated that the store should ‘stock more local produce’.
Nick Swan, Founder and CEO of VoucherCodesPro.co.uk who commissioned the research, said the following: “Sainsbury’s has long been a popular supermarket in the UK, having been founded in 1869. It’s a shame to see the struggles it is facing of late, but it would seem that the recent announcement of its losses and fall in stock price has had an effect on Britons. It would be a shame to see it go bust, so something needs to be doing to avoid this happening and to allow Sainsbury’s to thrive once again.”
