John Lewis Partnership plc annual report and accounts 2013

from Waitrose and John Lewis picked up in our supermarkets and convenience shops.

Waitrose.com had a very successful year with online sales growing by 49%, compared to 19% for the online grocery market according to Kantar Worldpanel data. The grocery service is available from 199 branches and from the customer fulfilment centre in Acton, West London which handles more than 19% of all orders. John Lewis’s Click & collect is proving hugely popular and has increased footfall in our Waitrose branches - for example, over the Christmas period our branches handled 300,000 such orders.

Eight Little Waitrose convenience branches and 11 new core shops were opened in the year, which together with one closure, brought the total estate to 290 branches. In addition we carried out major redevelopments on our branches in Putney, Saxmundham and Bath, with Bath doubling in size to 38,000 sq ft. Waitrose is also present in 17 Welcome Break motorway services and on two Shell forecourts.

We now have seven licensed shops in the Middle East, having opened four more during the year. We now export Waitrose products to more than 30 countries, with new markets in the last year including South Korea, Taiwan, Gibraltar and Trinidad. Export sales rose by 20% in the year.

We plan to open eight core branches, including Helensburgh, our sixth shop in Scotland. We will also open up to ten Little Waitrose convenience shops, the first of which was in Vauxhall, London in April 2013. We are also planning a substantial refurbishment programme of our existing shops.

A new Waitrose distribution centre will open in Leyland in summer 2013, to support our expansion

Waitrose will open a new Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) in Leyland, Lancashire, in summer 2013 to support expansion in the north of England and Scotland. Recruitment for the 300 new jobs created is already underway. We have also invested in a new Warehouse Management System which, through increased picking accuracy, is already leading to a significant improvement in availability.

In the year ahead, Waitrose will further invest in customer service with roles for 200 specialists in fresh produce and horticulture. A further 2,000 Partners will become product advisors in their branches.

Waitrose Operating profit (£m) and margin

2009  2010 2011 2012 2013

215 267 275 261 292

5.4%  6.2%  5.9%  5.1%  5.4% 

Waitrose Operating profit per selling square foot (£)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013  

54 63 60 53 56

Waitrose Operating profit per FTE (£000)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

9.4 11.3 10.8 9.4 10.1

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