John Lewis Partnership plc annual report and accounts 2012

Business review Review of performance (continued)

Waitrose

 Waitrose achieved sustained sales growth throughout 2011/12, increasing its market share by 0.2% to 4.1% and its profits in the second half of the year.

Gross sales were up by £425.8m, 8.6% to £5.40bn, and food only like-for-like sales grew by 3.6%.

Sales excluding VAT were up £372.4m, 7.9% to £5.07bn, and food only like-for-like sales grew by 3.0% on an excluding VAT basis.

Sales density rose by 0.1% to £1,033 per square foot but sales productivity per selling FTE decreased to £211,700, down by £2,400 (1.1%) on last year.

Customers’ perception of value in Waitrose has risen markedly in response to the investments made over the past three years: essential Waitrose, Brand Price Match and increased promotional participation, up by 4% to 27.8%. In December 2011 Waitrose came top for the third year running in the Which? Magazine supermarket satisfaction survey.

Product innovation was particularly strong in the year with three new ranges launched: Love Life (the biggest launch since essential Waitrose), Good to Go and Love Life You Count. The essential Waitrose range grew by 10% and Waitrose own label products accounted for 54% of sales.

There were 400,000 more transactions a week compared to last year as customers shopped across all formats: full weekly shops in core branches and online, supplemented by top-up shopping in convenience shops. This confirms that the strategy of opening new branches alongside the development of online and convenience is the right approach.

Waitrose.com orders rose by 34.5% in the year. At the year end, the service was available in 152 branches. Kantar Worldpanel data for the 52 weeks to 22 January 2012 showed Waitrose to be the fastest-growing online grocery retailer.

Graph showing Waitrose Gross sales (£m) 

Graph showing Waitrose Sales excluding VAT (£m)

Graph showing Waitrose Sales excluding VAT per square foot (selling space) (£)

Graph showing Waitrose Sales excluding VAT per selling FTE (£000)

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