Waitrose Essentials range a hit

Waitrose has announced it has broken the £100 million mark in sales of its budget Essentials range.

The retailer has announced a 17 per cent year-on-year sales increase since introducing the value range, which is being funded by money originally earmarked to invest in cutting costs, in March.

Purchases of the 800-line range now represent 13 per cent of sales, expected to rise to 15 per cent by October, when the budget range will reach its intended target of 1,400 products.

Chief executive Mark Price told the Financial Times sales of the re-priced and re-packaged lines were up between 20 and 60 per cent in the week to June 12, although packaging costs could amount to more than £25m.