Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Total divisional sales excluding fuel were up 3% for Waitrose last week (to July 16), with sales driven by a warm and sunny weekend following a cooler start to the summer.
The onset of warmer weather towards the end of the week contributed to an increase in fresh produce sales (up 6%), with prepared fruit up 14% and soft fruit up 16%.
The supermarket chain’s commercial director Mark Williamson said: “Hospitality sales also grew as shoppers begin to head off on summer breaks and days out, driving an uplift in our Good to Go sandwiches and drinks, up 6% and 14% respectively.”
He added that a promotion on home baking products proved popular with customers, rising sales by 33%, with the new book from young British baker and recipe writer Martha Collinson, also performing strongly.
Martha’s first cookbook, ‘TWIST: Creative Ideas to Reinvent Your Baking,’ was published on July 14 by HarperCollins.
She appeared as a contestant on the 2014 BBC series of ‘The Great British Bake Off’. As the youngest ever contestant to date, aged just 17, she managed to make it all the way to the quarter-finals while studying for her AS levels.
She now writes a weekly column for free supermarket weekly newspaper ‘Waitrose Weekend’.
