Waitrose: The best ever Christmas

UK supermarket chain Waitrose was facing challenging market conditions and fierce competitionin 2011.

Waitrose: The best ever Christmas

Principal authors: Debra Stephens and Michelle Gilson, Bartle Bogle HegartyContributing authors: Paddy Adams, Manning Gottlieb OMD; Diego Usai, BrandScience

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

This is the story of the best Christmas Waitrose has ever had, delivering the highest growth in like for like sales in the grocery sector (+3.8%).

It tells how communications attracted less frequent, lighter customers despite challenging market conditions, despite fiercer competition and despite no significant new news.

Marketing is often about making tough choices. Waitrose made the tough decision to invest more in brand, despite everything pointing to promoting...

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