Sainsbury's

Market, CX, UX Research Leadership

Challenge

Sales of children’s books were sluggish. Sainsbury’s wanted to position itself as a quality children’s bookseller, but lacked the insights to curate the right range or optimise in-store performance.

Aim

Inject the consumer perspective into strategic range planning to boost book sales and align with Sainsbury’s aspired brand image.

Role

Business Intelligence & Research Manager

Stakeholders

Sainsbury's &
Penguin Random House

Year

2012

Duration

4 weeks

The Brief

Sainsbury’s wanted to become known as a quality children’s bookseller, but their current approach led to sluggish sales. They partnered with Penguin Random House to find a better strategy.

My Tasks

#1
‍Identify the supermarket’s strengths and weaknesses via inventory and sales analysis, comparing it to the market

#2
Propose opportunities to grow sales and build a stronger brand reputation

#3
‍Explore opportunities for Penguin Random House's benefit within the collaboration

Team Collaboration

Insights team: market trends & purchasing behavior
Sales: store display & buyer experience
Finance: commercial viability

Resources

Customer loyalty card data
Inventory & sales data by store type
Floor space & shelf layout plans
Market sales data and benchmarks

Research and Analysis

Analyzed inventory and sales vs. market benchmarks
Identified inconsistencies in curation and display
Profiled loyal children’s product buyers using loyalty card data
Developed personas to understand key audiences
Explored crossover data from stronger-performing categories (e.g., kids' clothing)
Collaborated with Sales and Finance to explore best practices, SWOT analysis, and feasibility of recommendations

Recommendations

Define Target Market

Focus on babies to 9-year-olds, optimal for grandparents and family shoppers.

Optimize Curation

Partner with Penguin’s BI & Sales to curate more appealing, brand-aligned ranges.

Standardize curation, set KPIs, and refine selections based on sales data.

Design New Product

Create a supermarket-branded educational series with Penguin’s in-house educational publisher - accessible price point, broad appeal, strong D2C potential.

Impact

Target age range narrowed to 0–9 years
Curation improved with stronger, more recognizable titles
More prominent, appealing displays
Immediate uplift in sales
New educational range launched
Sainsbury’s won Children’s Bookseller of the Year

Reflection

This project underscored the power of cross-functional collaboration and the value of using existing data to improve both user experience and commercial outcomes.