John Foley Waitrose’s head of buying fruit vegetables and horticulture has commented on the strong performance of fresh produce in the first half and successful transformation of Safeway stores purchased from Morrison’s.
"We were naturally interested to see how Waitrose would be received by our new customers in the north," said Foley. "It could have been the case that we were seen as that posh supermarket from down south! But we were delighted to find that customers in our new shops were impressed by our fresh produce offer.
"And all of our branches are out-performing their targets in fruit and
vegetables. People will beat a path to your door if the offer is right,
and this certainly seems to be the case with our new Safeway shops in the north, south and Wales. In part, we owe the success to our supply base which has given us not only excellent quality but also excellent availability across a much larger area.
Waitrose has experienced very positive trade this half and I believe it is the levels of availability Waitrose and its growers and suppliers have been able to achieve in a very difficult of summer with very variable weather that has helped to drive sales and contribute to this success.
"We have been able to maintain quality and availability throughout this half which has helped contribute to sales and overall profit. Our commitment to English soft fruit, in particular raspberries, has also stood us in very good stead and encouraged excellent sales this summer."
The chain, which as the star performer for the John Lewis partnership in the six months to July, saw sales increased by 6.4 per cent to £1.4bn. Waitrose is spending £300 million on the purchase and conversion of 18 Safeway stores.
Latest figures from market analyst TNS show that Waitrose’s share of the fresh produce market is up to 4.3 per cent from 3.9 per cent last year in value terms. This significantly outstrips the store’s overall market share of 3.2 per cent.
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