Waitrose has most successful Christmas on record
Waitrose has reported its most successful Christmas on record as total branch sales, excluding fuel, for the twelve trading days to 31 December rose by 6.5% on last year and by 4.1% on a like-for-like basis.
Sales on Monday 23 December reached £51 million, which was the most ever taken by the supermarket in a single day, with an average of 22,000 items going through checkouts every minute.
In the five weeks to Christmas Eve, total sales, excluding fuel, climbed by 5.4% on last year to reach £736 million while like-for-like sales rose by 3.1%.
Online grocery sales surged by 33.4% in the five week period as click and collect orders helped to drive footfall.
Waitrose said volume growth, boosted by increased price competitiveness and the success of the My Waitrose loyalty card, had been a key factor in the sales uplift with customer visits up by 10.4% on last year during the five week period.
Waitrose managing director Mark Price said: “Every year retailers say that Christmas is late, but with some justification in 2013 as customers phased their shopping in line with the mid-week fall of the main festivities. Partners across all our branches and our supply chain have done a brilliant job in coping with the late influx of shoppers.
“Our performance this Christmas continues our sustained growth for the last five years. We’ve done well by giving people exactly what they want – high quality products, excellent value and superb service both in our shops and online.”
Waitrose’s premium own label ranges saw some of the strongest growth in the business with sales within the Heston range up 46.4%, Menu From up 45.6% and the Seriously range of sweet treats up 22.7%. Duchy Originals from Waitrose also performed strongly with sales up by 9.2% for the five week period.
