Waitrose builds market share
Growth strategy pays off for supermarket retailer
Waitrose has reported a total sales increase of 18.2 per cent in the seven weeks to January 8, with like-for-like sales up 3.6 per cent.
The supermarket group’ss growth strategy, which has seen new store openings including a package of store from Morrisons in the wake of the Safeway acquisition, means Waitrose’s market share is now 4.39 per cent, according to data from industry analysts IGD, compared to 3.95 per cent at the same time last year.
Waitrose now has 166 shops, with the past year seeing the opening of 23 new stores, including the 19 acquired from Morrisons. The openings have yaken the business into new geographical areas including the North West and Yorkshire.
The John Lewis-owned retailer said the branches acquired from Morrisons had exceeded internal expectations, and it has seen a particularly strong performance in new geographic areas, as well as a solid performance in its established branches.
The Food & Home shops, which combine the full Waitrose food assortment with a selection of John Lewis homewares, also performed strongly.
Steven Esom, Waitrose managing director, said: “Waitrose has really delivered in theface of an extremely competitive environment, getting food to the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity to meet demand. Our shelves have been fully stocked throughout the busy Christmas period, ensuring customers were able to find exactly what they wanted.
“These results have beaten previous records, which was to be expected following the addition of the Morrisons stores. However, the fact that they have also exceeded even our own targets for the period is very encouraging.
“Customers were making more trips to our stores than we had forecast, and were spending more per visit.”
