Waitrose is reportedly weighing plans to halve the number of products it sells as it seeks to reposition itself as the “home of food lovers”.
The upmarket supermarket currently offers more than 15,000 individual lines, a wide selection that has helped attract shoppers over the years.
It has built a reputation for carrying specialist ingredients and harder-to-find products that are not always available at rival supermarkets.
However, the retailer is now considering removing many of those items to tackle duplication and make the shopping experience simpler for customers.
At a presentation for food and drink suppliers earlier this year, Waitrose reportedly disclosed that a quarter of its products generated less than three per cent of total sales.
One supplier told The Times that it expects the number of food brands stocked by Waitrose to fall by roughly half within the next few months.
Another supplier said the supermarket had communicated a desire to move “more volume through fewer lines”.
A third supplier told the newspaper: “Waitrose has traditionally carried a large number of niche products because it wanted to offer something different from retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Waitrose is reportedly considering halving its range as it attempts to reshape the supermarket as the “home of food lovers”
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“To bring more affluent shoppers into stores, they offer lines that are more unusual.
“But when you build up a large number of niche suppliers that are not generating significant sales, rationalising the range makes sense.”
The reported shake-up comes just months after Waitrose finished last in a Which? assessment of fresh-food shelf life, behind rivals including Asda, Tesco and M&S.
Which? used 12 mystery shoppers to place identical online orders with Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose over a two-week period.
Researchers then worked out how many full hours remained between each delivery and midnight on the items’ use-by dates, producing an average shelf-life figure for every supermarket.
Waitrose’s fresh food had an average of just 7.7 days remaining when it arrived.
The premium retailer performed particularly poorly across several products, including scones, bread, fresh pasta sauce, fresh tagliatelle, hummus and pork sausages.
In one especially notable case, two packs of Waitrose beef mince and a pack of chicken thighs arrived with use-by dates only one day after delivery.
The findings may help explain why Jason Tarry, chairman of Waitrose parent company the John Lewis Partnership, is reportedly overseeing a supermarket overhaul that could cost up to £1 billion.
His ambition is to establish Waitrose as the “home for food lovers”, with stores potentially upgraded to feature bakeries, fresh-food stations and staffed counters.
The supermarket has also introduced new formats, including smaller “neighbourhood” stores that sit between its traditional branches and convenience shops. Waitrose now operates more than 320 locations nationwide.
This year’s Christmas campaign stars Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson, who reprise their roles from last year’s advert. Wilkinson plays Phil, a gloomy widower who encounters Knightley at the cheese counter of his local Waitrose.
A company spokesperson said: “We are increasing both sales and customer numbers, and we believe there is significant scope to build on that momentum by staying firmly focused on our strategy to become the home of food lovers.
“That means making sure we offer precisely what customers want: a distinctive range centred on quality and the values that differentiate us, bringing together familiar brands with new and exciting products that shoppers will enjoy.”
As Waitrose prepares to reshape its stores and product range, its main rival Marks & Spencer has enjoyed a strong return to growth this year.
M&S Food Director of Product Development Kathryn Turner is pictured as the supermarket enjoys a significant sales recovery
M&S reported pre-tax profits of £355 million for the six months to September, £3 million higher than the previous year
The retailer reported pre-tax profits of £355 million for the six months to September, a £3 million rise compared with the same period a year earlier.
M&S is understood to have relied on the continued expansion of its food division to support its recovery after a cyberattack last year took its website offline and left stores with empty shelves. Reports suggested the incident cost the company more than £100 million in profits.
The retailer has also stepped up efforts to appeal to younger shoppers. Kathryn Turner, its director of product development, has become an unexpected social media sensation.
Her TikTok videos have attracted more than 50 million views, with M&S believed to have linked her content to increased sales of products including mango grapes and its unusual strawberries-and-cream “sando”.
The company actively encourages employees to share content about their work on personal social-media accounts, a strategy that gained traction during the coronavirus pandemic.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, said: “The work we have done in recent years to strengthen our balance sheet has created a solid financial platform from which to invest, and we remain confident about the opportunities ahead.
“Despite persistent cost pressures, we have stayed focused on our ambitions and remain clear about the plan.”
M&S’s food division is now attracting 1.5 million more customers than it did a year ago.
Executives are reportedly aiming to make M&S a destination for entire shopping lists, encouraging British families to switch more of their grocery spending from rival supermarkets.
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