Why Waitrose thinks it’s a great time to be a customer

Brian Carruthers

This article examines how UK supermarket chain Waitrose managed during the pandemic.

The fact that the pandemic and lockdown have accelerated e-commerce is a given, but that process has not necessarily followed the same trajectory for every brand and retailer. According to upmarket UK grocery retailer Waitrose, 60% more people now shop online more for groceries than they did pre-pandemic. “This isn’t just a small change, it’s the majority of the British population who are now shopping more online for food than they were pre-pandemic,” pointed out Martin George, customer director at Waitrose.

At Advertising Week 2020 (September/October 2020), he reflected on the developments of the previous six months, during which retailers...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands