Pot Of Marmite Now Costs More Than Petrol
According to a report in the Mail last Sunday, a pot of Marmite now costs more than the price of a gallon of petrol or a rump steak.
According to the report, the cost of a 500 gram jar of the dark stuff has risen by 25 per cent over the last half decade and is currently sold at £5.03 at Sainsbury’s and £5.38 at Waitrose a cost which exceeds the price of a gallon of petrol in most parts of Britain.
Around 60 million jars of the yeast spread are produced every year, and despite the increase in price, sales of the product increased by 2 per cent in the last year.
Unilever, the company which owns the Marmite name, refused to offer an explanation for the steep price rise.
Adam Leyland, editor of The Grocer magazine, said: “Compared with bread, which has gone up by around 40 per cent in price over the past five years, this is a relatively modest rise.”
“But Marmite does not appear to contain any ingredients that have been subject to sharp price hikes. This could be a case of Unilever trying to increase its profit margins.”
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Waitrose In Negotiation To Acquire EAT Sandwich Bars
Up-market grocery retailer Waitrose is considering a potential acquisition of the coffee and sandwich bar EAT, and has entered into discussions with the company according to a report in the Sunday Times.
The retailer wants to open EAT branches in Waitrose stores, and is also planning to sell Waitrose food at EAT branches.
The discussion follows closely after Waitrose announced impressive full year results which saw sales leap by over 15 per cent.
Over the last few years, Waitrose has been developing a food strategy introducing innovations such as the Essentials range which has enjoyed great success.
Essentials has generated £500 million is sales since its introduction over a year ago, with sales expected to reach £750 million during the next 12 months.
Waitrose has also invested heavily in television advertising, recruiting celebrity chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and Delia Smith as ‘food ambassadors’.
Waitrose recently reached an agreement with pharmacy chain Boots, the terms of which will see Waitrose food items being sold at over 700 Boots outlets. A similar arrangement is also being negotiated with energy major Shell.
An acquisition of EAT by the retailer would see its products made available at over 100 EAT branches, the majority of which are in London.
The EAT chain was set up by Niall and Faith MacArthur in 1996, and is now co-owned by Penta capital, with the founders still owning a 45% shareholding.
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Waitrose Unveils Ambitious Expansion Plan For 2010
Upmarket grocery retail chain Waitrose has unveiled ambitious plans to double its sales and share of the British grocery market during the next ten years.
In an interview with Retail Week, Waitrose chief, Mark Price says he would like the retailer to increase its market share from the current 4.3 per cent to around 8 per cent. An increase in market share of that size would mean that the retailer’s sales would jump from £5 billion at present, to £10 billion by 2020.
Mr. Prices says the retailer intends to focus on opening new stores both domestically and internationally. Waitrose expects to open at least ten new outlets across the UK during 2010, some of which will be smaller convenience stores. The company expects to open a further 30 stores during 2011.
Mr. Price, who was named retail leader of the year at the Retail Week awards says that the company intends to build upon its existing partnerships such as the one it has with health and beauty chain Boots.
Mr. Price expects Waitrose to end the year as the fastest growing supermarket chain for the second consecutive year.
“The economy will give us nothing this year and there will be no easy wins, but our plans are well developed and we’re confident,” he said.
Waitrose, the grocery division of the John Lewis Partnership is widely expected to launch a smaller convenience store format within the next couple of months.
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Waitrose Starts Selling Luxury Toilet Rolls Made From Cashmere
Wiping one’s behind after visiting the loo has never been silkier, with upmarket grocery retailer Waitrose, upping the luxury ante, offering its customers luxury toilet rolls made using one of the softest materials known to man, cashmere.
Usually cashmere is a material used to manufacture very expensive and extremely soft jumpers, scarf’s and socks, but the retailer is now using the material to make toilet paper for customers who wish to indulge themselves.
Waitrose says that the toilet paper is covered in oil extracted from the hairs of the cashmere goat and is “most luxurious bathroom tissue yet”.
Waitrose is retailing the luxury toilet rolls at nearly double the price of regular toilet paper. The cashmere toilet roll sells at Waitrose stores nationwide for £2.29 for a pack of four, compared with £4.79 for a pack of nine Essentials Ultra toilet rolls.
Carla Smith, buyer for the upmarket grocery chain, said: “Cashmere provides that stamp of quality to any fashion garment from a designer suit to the finest luxury knitwear .”
“It’s indulgent, it’s stylish and it’s helping provide that extra softness to our new premium bathroom tissue collection.”
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UK Supermarkets Improve Their Customer Satisfaction Rankings
According to a new survey of customer service, UK supermarkets provide a higher level compared with their non-food retailing peers.
In the most recent UK Customer Service Index, the UK’s supermarket chains received an average score of 80 out of 100 for their customer service in a study which polled some 26,000 shoppers.
The top retailer which provided consumer satisfaction in the index was Waitrose who scored an average of 86, and was closely followed by Marks And Spencer who scored 85 points.
Asda came in third in the rankings, scoring 81 points, and was followed by Sainsbury’s and Iceland. The UK’s largest retailer Tesco scored 79 out of 100.
Bottom of the supermarket customer service list was the Co-op with a score of 75.
The top non-food retailer in the UK John Lewis was John Lewis and as a category non food retailers managed an average score of 79 points.
The results of the survey show that the retail sector in general has managed an improvement of four points during the last two years, and now top the industry consumer satisfaction rankings ahead of tourism and consumer services.
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Waitrose UK’s Top Performing Grocery Retailer During Holiday Season
The top performing UK grocery retailer over the holiday season turns out to be Waitrose, who managed to record a 14 per cent year on year rise in sales growth during the four weeks ending Boxing Day.
According to market research firm Nielsen, the upmarket food and grocery retailer saw sales increase by 13.6 per cent during the quarter ending December 26th, compared with the same time frame in the previous year.
Waitrose sales increase was nearly double the rate recorded by the dominant British grocery retailer Tesco. The UK’s largest supermarket chain trailed its rivals during the period, registering growth of 7.4 per cent during the course of the four weeks. Tesco registered the lowest sales growth for the period.
Morrisons who placed second on the list recorded 11.8 per cent growth in sales during the holiday season, followed by Asda who registered an 8.6 per cent increase in its sales during the period. Sainsbury’s was fourth on the list, and saw a sales increase of 7.7 per cent during the Christmas shopping season.
Commenting on the results, Nielsen said the grocery market experienced a “robust” December and a “particularly strong” Christmas and said the sector had grown by an aggregate of 6.7 per cent during the four week period.
A Nielsen spokesman said “We had a slow start to the season and from the figures it looks like consumers held back until the final fortnight where we saw some exceptional growth. The level of promotional activity in supermarkets usually drops off in December but it remained at 35pc this year. Shoppers shared in the bonanza – price cuts, bigger than ever promotions and loyalty scheme give-aways all helped encourage shoppers to spend.”
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Waitrose Holiday Sales Rocket
Upmarket food retailer Waitrose says it has its “most successful Christmas ” ever, revealing that like-for-like sales increased by an astonishing 13.5 per cent year-on-year during the week of December 26th.
The retailer says that its total sales rose by over a fifth or an outstanding 20.5 per cent during that week, rising from £111.7 million during that same week in 2008 to £134.6 million in 2009. Waitrose cited cold weather and icy conditions for boosting online sales by a whopping 50 per cent during that period.
Organic turkey sales at its 222 UK outlets rocketed by 53 per cent during the holiday season, whilst its “three-bird roast” (turkey, goose and duck) jumped by 87 per cent compared to the previous year, the retailer said.
Waitrose said there was sustained demand for ingredients including seasonal spices, dried fruits, pastry and icing.
Waitrose said: “Christmas came particularly late as many customers postponed their festive shop until Christmas Eve, following the impact of heavy snow in many parts of the country. Warming food and drink, including cocoa, soup, hot pies and Indian ready meals all sold well.”
Waitrose has an online delivery deal in place with Ocado which is effective until 2013, and the delivery firm said it too recorded record sales over the holiday season.
Ocado says that more than 3.5 million items were delivered to some 41,918 customers.
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Waitrose Products To Be Made Available At Shell Petrol Stations
The retailer says it will begin selling snacks, sandwiches and a limited range of groceries at Shell petrol stations beginning with service stations in the Birmingham area.
If the trial ends up being successful Waitrose says it will extend its range to a larger number of Shell’s 900 plus petrol stations in 2010.
Managing director Mark Price said: “There are still millions of customers without access to a local Waitrose and we want to explore all the possibilities for making our food available to more customers.”
Mr. Price went on to add that the new partnership is part of Waitrose plan to extend and increase its presence in the convenience segment through “new formats and channels”.
Last year Waitrose revealed that it planned on opening as many as 300 convenience stores throughout Britain during the next five to ten years.
Waitrose also recently announced its intention to trail the sale of its product ranges in Boots. As part of the deal, Waitrose would also carry Boot’s product range in its stores.
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British Retailers Expected To Post Impressive Christmas Trading Results
Retailer Marks and Spencers is expected to announce the first increase in its underlying quarterly sales since 2007 on Wednesday, and the earnings announcement is expected to kick off a season of trading updates from all the major British retailers during the next week.
Speculation about which retailers emerged as the winners of the Christmas retail price wars have intensified over the last few weeks.
Clothing retailer Next will also be announcing its results on Wednesday and is also expected to report a rise in sales. Sainsbury’s reports on Thursday and is expected to report a slight decline in its sales figures, largely as a result of a drop in food price inflation.
John Lewis which is viewed as a benchmark indicator for the overall performance of the entire retail sector has seen improvements in the performance of both its high end food store Waitrose and at its flagship department stores, boosting expectations of improvements in trading results of the industry in general.
After what can only be described as a terrible economic calendar year, expectations have risen after an extremely robust and busy Christmas shopping season.
The level of discounts declined compared to the previous year, suggesting that retailers have managed to hold on to their margins. However sales figures for the period may be artificially inflated due to a large increase in the number of consumers purchasing big ticket items such as electrical products and white goods before the increase in VAT becomes effective on January 1st.
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