JKR

Waitrose

This week's Champion of Design is Waitrose, Britain's most popular supermarket. Waitrose has long regarded design as a source of competitive advantage. In contrast to the visual cacophony of cardboard signs and non-food merchandise at its brasher competitors, Waitrose customers enjoy light and airy stores with wide aisles, intelligent signage and courteous staff.

An eclectic selection of sophisticated design delights their customers and allows them to avoid the worst of the price war being fought out between the big 4.

Waitrose hasn’t always been so immune, however. In the 2008 downturn sales fell 4.6% due to a perception that Waitrose was pricey when people needed to cut-back. A perception that was only dispelled by the introduction of the essential Waitrose range. Simple white packaging with bright hand-drawn illustrations efficiently positions their everyday products as ‘Quality you’d expect at prices you wouldn’t’.

It was a well-executed response to a strategic threat, one that could have left Waitrose positioned as an occasional shop, a niche from which M&S Simply Food struggles to escape.

Within weeks, Waitrose topped the grocery league table with like-for-likes up 10%. Since then the retailer has sustained its recovery with a stream of initiatives featuring Delia & Heston, a partnership with Duchy and extension into smaller outlets.

Although consumers are again cautious about spending, thanks to their commitment to quality and design, Waitrose continues to command levels of loyalty that ensure house prices rise wherever they open a store.

By Andy Knowles, Chairman, jkr

For the full article, see this week's copy of Marketing.