Sales at upmarket grocer Waitrose rose 7.7 per cent on a year previously last week as shoppers sought to make the most of the final days of summer, it has been announced today.
Sales of barbeque food increased in the week to September 15th 2012 as burgers and sausages saw sales jump 48 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.
Pimm‘s and sun lotion also saw a massive boost on the same period last year as sales leapt 161 per cent and 123 per cent respectively.
In a bid to support it‘s apple farmers, who are expected to see a loss of 20 per cent on tonnage for the year due to the wet summer seriously affecting the British crop, the supermarket will be stocking a range of weather-damaged varieties from this week.
Earlier this week, Waitrose was the subject of derisory comments from Twitter users following its launch of a campaign asking users to Tweet answers to “I shop at Waitrose because…”, with many mocking the grocer‘s perceived middle-class shoppers.
Meanwhile, total sales at department store John Lewis were up 12.9 per cent on last year as its main directorates and online offering continued to perform strongly.
Dino Rocos, Operations Director at John lewis, highlighted the difference in responses that the two retailers have seen on social media sites.
He commented: “With the Never Knowingly Undersold advert ‘What‘s Important Doesn‘t Change‘ launching over the weekend, the John Lewis brand is trending on social media and should mean an exciting week ahead.”
Sales of Electricals and Home Technology drove the figures with an increase of 19.3 per cent over the week, a welcome rise now that the busy Olympics period is finished.
Sales of tablets are expected to grow with the launch of the new entry-level Kindle while promotional activity such as trade-ins and additional guarantees further boosted growth.
JL.com accounted for a quarter of trade over the week as click & collect almost doubled on last year with sales increasing across both John Lewis and Waitrose branches, while its recently-opened Exeter pop-up shop also proved popular for the service.
The site reported a sales rise of 38 per cent on last year thanks to a strong conversion of click into demand while across bricks & mortar stores, the majority showed an increase on last year.
Fashion reported year-on-year growth of 16 per cent over the period as Womenswear and Women‘s Accessories & Beauty saw increases of 21.3 per cent and 21.8 per cent respectively, while its Stratford branch continued to pick up London 2012 trade.
