Waitrose: Marry quality with value

How did Waitrose manage to break into the 'value' market so successfully with its Essentials range? This case study looks at how a brand, which has been synonymous with an upmarket image, created a range which broadened its appeal without losing anything from its reputation for quality.

Marry quality with value

Matt Wyatt

MARKET CONTEXT

As 2007 ushered in 2008, supermarket chain waitrose was enjoying the best of times. Having enjoyed, for many years, a deserved reputation as Britain's best quality supermarket, it had recently announced ambitious growth plans to double the size of the business within ten years.

Opening its doors to a broader audience with advertising that proclaimed 'Everyone deserves quality food', Waitrose promised to open up a world in which quality food was the norm, not the exception. The first step toward democratising quality food had been taken, and the future looked...

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