nickshanagher

Interim results from Waitrose this week confirm the industry figures that show the upmarket supermarkets and convenience stores are leading the market (albeit from a 4.2% share according to Kantar Worldpanel). Charlie Mayfield, the chairman, highlights many reasons for its success and here are five that local retailers should consider. Marketing works. Waitrose claims that more than 370,000 extra customer transactions resulted from its spring tie-up with Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal in the first eight weeks. This autumn, it launches a cookery school. Engaged shoppers are more profitable shoppers! You need a value offering. 17 per cent of Waitrose sales are from its value range, called essentials. Momentum works. Its strategy is to bring Waitrose to more people in more places. It invested in 75,000 square feet of extra selling space in the first half of this year, including three convenience stores. In the second half of the year, it is adding eight convenience stores. Str...

Most shopper transactions for local shops are under £10, which may be a good thing if the rise of on-line grocery shopping continues. But don't bet on it. In a presentation last November, Laura Wade-Gery of Tesco.com, explained the advantages that has made it the UK's largest on-line retailer, with sales of £1.9billion and profits of £109m in 2008-09. While only 3% of the grocery market is currently on-line, 6.7% of Tesco's grocery sales are through the internet. Using 309 stores nationwide, Tesco.com covers 99% of the UK, which means your home is within a 25 minute drive of their local distribution system. Tesco.com is now so successful it is having to build dotcom only stores to meet demand. Shoppers come to Tesco.com because they know the brand but they stay if it is good at order fulfilment, quality and freshness and on-time delivery. Ms Wade-Gery promises that Tesco.com will continue to innovate, with ideas including: predictive ordering (where it remembers what you...