Waitrose
 |
| Type |
Subsidiary |
| Founded |
1904[1] |
| Founder(s) |
Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor |
| Headquarters |
Bracknell[2], England , UK |
| Number of locations |
221[3] |
| Area served |
UK |
| Key people |
Mark Price, Managing Director
Tony Solomons, Retail Director
Richard Hodgson, Commercial Director
Richard Mayfield, Finance Director
Mark Williamson, Supply Chain Director
Ailsa Emmerson, Personnel Director[4] |
| Industry |
Supermarket |
| Products |
Food |
| Revenue |
£5046.8 million[5] |
| Operating income |
£173.5 million [5] |
| Employees |
37,000[6] |
| Parent |
John Lewis Partnership |
| Website |
www.waitrose.com |
Waitrose is an upmarket supermarket in the United Kingdom. Waitrose is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. As of November 2009, there were 221 branches across the United Kingdom. The company differentiates itself from competitors by offering high quality food and emphasising customer service. The Company has a Royal Warrant to supply groceries, wine and spirits to Elizabeth II.[7]
History
A typical Waitrose branch (
Chesham branch)
Waitrose branch in
Newark, Nottinghamshire. For several years from its opening in 1997 to 2005 this branch was the most northerly in the UK
A Waitrose Petrol Station in
Lincoln
1900s
"Waite, Rose and Taylor" was founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The store was located at 263 Acton Hill, West London[6] David Taylor left two years later in 1906. In 1908, the name “Waitrose” (a portmanteau of the remaining founders' names) was adopted as the company was incorporated. In 1937, the company, which now consisted of ten stores, was taken over by the John Lewis Partnership. Each of the then 160 employees becoming “Partners” (co-owners of the business).[6]
The chain's first supermarket opened in Streatham, London in 1955. In the 1960s Waitrose started to grow and branches opened all across London, the Home Counties and the South East. In the 1970s Waitrose started to move northwards and westwards and opened branches in counties like Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire.
The 1980s saw little growth, with new branches limited to areas where they were already had a firm presence. In 1992 Waitrose opened its 100th branch in Longfield and in 1997 a Waitrose branch opened in Newark making it at the time the most northerly branch in the country. The Waitrose chain has now grown to include 214 supermarkets in both England, Wales and Scotland. 200 stores was reached in 2009 — a doubling in the number of stores in 17 years. In 1981 counter service was introduced for fresh meat, fish and cheese, and in 1983, Waitrose became the first major supermarket chain to sell organic food.
2000-
In 2000, Waitrose purchased 11 stores from rival Somerfield.[8] During 2004, in order for Morrisons to meet competition regulations following its acquisition of Safeway, Morrisons had to sell 52 of the Safeway stores. The first batch of 19 stores were sold to Waitrose. [9]
In August 2005 Waitrose purchased a further five former Safeway stores from Morrison's. This took the firm as far north as Durham (now closed)[10], fitting with its long term strategy to evolve into a national retailer. In December 2005, Waitrose also bought another store at Biggin Hill, south east London, from Morrison's.
In March 2006, Waitrose announced the purchase of five additional branches, including two branches in Edinburgh, situated in Comely Bank and Morningside. The other three locations included Balham in South West London, Barbican in the City of London and Buxton in Derbyshire.
In July 2006, Waitrose announced it had purchased another six stores from Morrison's and also a former Safeway regional distribution centre in Aylesford, Kent expanding Waitrose to 182 stores. The six stores which were rebranded into Waitrose are located at Hexham in Northumberland, Eastbourne in East Sussex, Formby in Merseyside, Parkstone in Poole, Dorset, Lymington in Hampshire and Portswood in Southampton, Hampshire. Since Morrisons began selling Safeway stores in order to meet competition regulations, Waitrose had purchased 31 stores from Morrison's since 2000 and 16 from Somerfield.
In 2007 four new Waitrose branches opened, the first of which opened in Harborne in Birmingham. This was followed by Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester in July. The company also revealed plans to extend and refurbish a number of branches.
During 2007, Waitrose opened branches across the United Kingdom including Ampthill, Bedfordshire, replacing a Budgens store in September, a second Waitrose branch in the South at College Town, Sandhurst, Berkshire in November and also a newly built branch in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
In March 2008, three branches were purchased from Budgens, in Buckingham, Bayswater, in West London. The same year, branches opened in Cardiff (Pontprennau), Crewkerne, Kenilworth, Newcastle upon Tyne, White City (Westfield London), Chiswick, Clapham, Edgware Road (the latter three purchased from Woolworths) and Nottingham. A Waitrose store in Banstead was destroyed by fire in December 2008.[11]
In June 2008, Waitrose announced the acquisition of four Woolworths store sites for conversion to Waitrose branches in Chiswick, Battersea (Clapham Junction), Edgware Road (Marylebone) and Chapel Market, Islington. All these stores are now trading.[12]
On 12 November 2009, Waitrose opened a new branch on Byres Road in Glasgow. This is after having purchased the preceding Somerfield store in this location. This is the first Waitrose branch situated in Glasgow. Also, a former Somerfield store in Stamford opened in June 2009
Waitrose has entered into a licensing agreement with Spinneys of Dubai, United Arab Emirates to open three purpose-built branches, of which the first opened in the Dubai Mall in October 2008. Spinneys will convert 20 of their own stores to the Waitrose format by 2010.[13]
The company has a long term goal of opening 400 branches across the UK by 2017 and doubling its revenue to £8bn by 2016.[14]
Recent developments
Waitrose is involved in a new scheme to operate food halls in key stores of sister chain John Lewis. The stores are officially branded as 'John Lewis Food Hall' and use of the Waitrose brand is limited, but the stores do carry some Waitrose own-brand product lines. The staff uniform is also different to that of Waitrose. The first John Lewis Food Hall opened at the flagship London Oxford Street department store in October 2007; a second opened at the Bluewater branch in August 2009.
In January 2009, Waitrose announced that they had acquired 13 sites from The Co-operative Group to be converted into Waitrose branches as well as building another nine branches to make a total of 22 new branches. Waitrose cited it was the largest expansion in the history of the company, by adding 4,000 partners and increasing to around 220 supermarkets.[15]
Also in early 2009, following a fire which destroyed a Waitrose main store in Banstead, Surrey, Waitrose took up temporary residence in the town's former Woolworths store, vacated as a result of Woolworths' collapse. The store was smaller than the damaged site but allowed Waitrose to maintain its presence in the area until the rebuilt main store re-opened on 26 November 2009.[16]
In April 2009, Waitrose announced a franchise deal with Welcome Break (a motorway service area operator). The two Waitrose stores which are the smallest stores in the partnership opened at Welcome Break services in Oxford and South Mimms on 1 and 15 May 2009 respectively.[17]
In Autumn 2009, Waitrose announced plans to expand its presence in the convenience store sector after successful trials of the format. These stores are smaller than the main Waitrose stores but allow the chain to retail a selection of keynote ranges in areas where there is not a suitable site for a large Waitrose supermarket. The firm also plans to expand on its presence at Welcome Break service stations. The firm has also signed a deal with Alliance Boots which will see Boots operating branded pharmacies and retailing health and beauty products through Waitrose stores; in return Boots stores will sell Waitrose food products.[18].
Waitrose will also be involved in a new service being trialled by sister chain John Lewis, whereby customers of John Lewis' online retail service would be able to collect their purchase in person from a Waitrose supermarket (Waitrose is being used as it has a larger number of stores than John Lewis itself). The scheme would be similar to 'click-and-collect' schemes already run by Argos and Comet. The scheme will be trialled in two stores from Autumn 2009, and if successful will be rolled out to the entire estate.[19]
It has the following shops planned for opening in 2010 Poynton, York, Raynes Park, Egham, Wellington, Oadby, Wimbourne, Gerrards Cross, Lutterworth, Ashbourne, Melksham, Menai Bridge, Storrington.
Awards and acclaims
2006
- Multiple Retailer of the Year (Re:Fresh)[20]
2007
- Best High Street Retailer for Customer Service (Which?)[21]
- UK's Favourite Retailer (Verdict Research)[22]
- Multiple Retailer of the Year (Re:Fresh)[23]
- Best Business Initiative (Re:Fresh)[24]
- Seafood Multiple Retailer of the Year (Seafood Awards)[25]
- Best Animal Welfare Practice (RSPCA)[26]
- Best Supermarket [for Wines] (Decanter World Wine Awards)[27]
2009
Corporate identity
Waitrose's old logo, before 2003
The current Waitrose logo was designed by Monotype fonts and Interbrand,[30][31] to replace the traditional Waitrose logo (pictured right).
Advertising for Waitrose emphasises on the chain's unique selling points. For example, its differences in production processes, emphasising the quality of products or the expertise of their partners (staff). Recent marketing has also attempted to portray the chain as more ethical than other supermarkets, especially with regards to Fairtrade produce.
It was announced on 20 May 2008 that Waitrose would be sponsoring Reading F.C. for the 2008-09 season.[32]
Corporate social responsibility
Waitrose donates a proportion of its profits to a group of charities on a proportional basis, whilst individual Waitrose branches manage their own charitable donations and local decisions are made on which charities are to be supported. This is a system called 'Community Matters', where customers are invited to choose who they want money to be donated to.[33]
The supermarket launched the Waitrose Foundation in 2005, providing funds for education, worker facilities and health services among other things for fruit growers in South Africa. Waitrose's vegetable varieties include organic varieties.[34]
Employment practices and benefits
As part of the John Lewis Partnership, all of Waitrose's employees are assigned the title of Partner, co-owners of the business. As such, they receive certain benefits, most notably the Partnership bonus, usually around 10–20% of a Partner's yearly salary in a lump sum paid in March (the highest bonus percentage in recent years has been 22%). The annual partnership bonus for 2009 was 13%. After three months service Partners receive an orange discount card which entitles them to 15% discount in Waitrose and 25% in John Lewis Department Stores on most goods. Due to lower margins, discount is 12% on some (mainly electrical) goods in the department stores. The department store discount (25%/12%) applies on johnlewis.com also.
Main focuses of training for new Partners are health and safety, fresh food handling, fire safety and customer service. Partners are trained to drop whatever they are doing (within reason) upon request from a customer, and also to lead customers asking for the location of a product to the product, and handing it over. In 2005 the business introduced a 'Mystery Shopper' programme to score its branches on the service they provide. The mystery shopper grades the branch on its presentation and on the service the branch provides at its service counters, checkouts, wine department and shop floor. During 2008 Waitrose will be training its partners in its new programme 'fresh on service' which aims to lift core service standards and continue to make the business stand out from its competitors.
The current uniform for male non-management partners is a green shirt with green and grey patterned necktie and grey trousers and optional apron whereas for females the uniform is a heavily patterned blouse and a choice of grey skirt, trousers and optional apron or tabard. Section managers and their assistants wear white shirts (male) or tunics (female), grey trousers or skirts and can choose to wear green suit jackets. Department and branch managers wear business suits. Waitrose will launch a new, white and grey pinstripe, uniform for all partners in 2010, after a trial which is currently taking place. This uniform will consist of a White pinstripe shirt, beige short apron for all shopfloor partners and trousers or skirt for all partners. Service counter partners will not have "whites" but will have a longer apron and a skull cap. The new uniform is now approved and will be rolling out to all branches from early next year all new stores will wear the new business dress as soon as they are opened.
The employee levels in selling branches are: non-management Partner, Specialist, third hand (TH), assistant section manager (ASM), section manager (SM), department manager (DM) and branch manager (BM). Above BMs are ten area managers known as Head of Retail Operations (HoROs), working with Registrars who are impartial of management and seek to safeguard the constitution which underpins the Partnership, then the two regional directors (north and south), the director of retail and finally at the top, the managing director, Mark Price. Price reports to the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Charlie Mayfield. Waitrose offer many different management courses, including the Retail Management Training Scheme (RMT) where school leavers train to become section managers within two years, continuing to become department managers three years later and a Graduate Scheme that sees people achieving department manager level within two years.
Waitrose also offer industrial placement schemes for students studying a 4 year sandwich degree. This gives them the opportunity to work in Branches leading to a section manager role within the year. They also offer limited placements at their head office in Bracknell; this gives students experience in departments such as Buying, Marketing and Personnel.
Operations
Waitrose branches are mainly located in the south-east of England and in the London areas. The chain only has three branches in the south west of England, five in Wales, twelve in the north of England, and three in Scotland (two in Edinburgh, the other in Glasgow's West End). In the countryside most Waitrose stores are located in towns with smaller populations rather than in towns with larger populations.
Branches are usually finished with white walls. Much attention is paid to lighting with halogen spots in key areas such as service counters, fruit and vegetables and wines.
Waitrose stores vary considerably in size. For example, the smallest branch, a temporary one in Banstead, Surrey (until a proposed brand-new branch is opened) occupies 4,000 sq ft (370 m2) although officially the title is held by Nottingham Trinity Square, which occupies 5,815 sq ft (540.2 m2) of retail space and the largest, Southend-on-Sea, over 56,000 sq ft (5,200 m2). [35] The average Waitrose occupies a retail space of around 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m2).
Product range and services
Waitrose stores stock food products. Although Waitrose does not have an "economy" or "value" range, some branches stock lower priced lines not bearing the Waitrose name and below the corresponding Waitrose-branded product. In 2009, Waitrose launched the "essential Waitrose" moniker, with the tagline "quality you'd expect at prices you wouldn't". 1,400 new and existing own-brand products have been rebranded with this name, and in simple white-based packaging featuring artwork of that particular product. Despite the simplified packaging designs and lower prices, essential Waitrose is not intended to be seen as a "value" range.
Waitrose offers services such as the "WaitroseEntertaining" range of products, which are foods made to order for special occasions. Waitrose also offers a range of other services including home delivery, free glass loan and fish kettle service. Waitrose has won awards at The International Wine and Spirit Competition and from publications such as Wine Magazine. Waitrose formerly supplied dial-up and broadband Internet connections from which all profits are donated to charity. As of 2009, provision of broadband internet is through sister company Greenbee.
Most branches have one or two specialists, in wines, meat, fish and cheese, to advise customers and help train other members of staff. They are given training and attend specialist courses, as well as visiting suppliers, to get hands-on experience.
Waitrose sells a large number of own brand food and household cleaning products. Some stores stock a selection of John Lewis branded goods.
Partners, on request, will carry any amount of shopping to a customer's car for free. Partners will also unload shopping to a customer's car if asked.
Waitrose does not offer direct services such as home and travel insurance. Such services however, are offered through Greenbee, a sister company in the John Lewis Partnership.
Online shopping
In January 2000, the online food retailer Ocado was launched with the John Lewis Partnership as a principal supplier and part owner. The Ocado service is only available in certain areas of Britain. Ocado uses a central warehouse to service their deliveries. In November 2008, the John Lewis Partnership transferred its shareholding, then 29%, into its staff pension fund. It also agreed a five year supply deal with the business, replacing its previous one year rolling deal.[36]
Waitrose also operates its own delivery service, WaitroseDeliver, which is only available in certain stores. This offers home delivery of Waitrose groceries ordered through the Internet but is serviced from the local branch. Some stores also offer a delivery service — customers complete the shopping in-store and is delivered by Waitrose to their home at a convenient time, a service branded Shop and drop. The WaitroseDeliver service also hosts the online ordering system for Waitrose's special order food and cakes service "Waitrose Entertaining" as well as ordinary online grocery shopping. Waitrose is the first supermarket to abolish all delivery charges for as of May 2009. [37]
Quick Check and Quick Pay
Many branches also feature a scan and pack-as-you-shop service known as Quick Check. This is similar to the system that was used by many Safeway UK stores, before their takeover by Morrisons. Customers use a handheld scanner (Model: Symbol PSS) and scan items as they take it off the shelf and pack as they go. When customers have finished their shopping, they pay at the Quick Check till (alternatively the customer service desk or any other till), without having to unpack and re-pack their shopping. However, an occasional random rescan of shopping is required, although this is seldom and staff repack shopping for the customer. If paying using a debit/credit/account card, the customer can use an automated till for payment, known as Quick Pay (only present in some Quick Check branches). Waitrose now allows any payment cardholder to use the service, whereas it used to be restricted to Waitrose/John Lewis account and partnership cardholders. However, only the latter are offered complimentary reusable jute bags to use with the service.[38]
UK Market share
Graph Showing Market Share of Waitrose
TNS Worldpanel reports that Waitrose currently has a 4% share of the food market up 0.1% from 2006, and additionally a 18% and 10% share of the organic food and fish markets respectively. [39]
There have been concerns expressed by members of the Guild of Fine Food retailers that Waitrose is competing with quality independent grocers and farmers' markets, more than other supermarkets.[40]
References
External links
