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Waitrose buries brands
Waitrose is pushing its point of difference to other supermarket wine ranges by “scaling back on brands” according to Andrew Shaw,buying manager for wines with particular responsibility for Italy and Australia.
To illustrate his point, a selection of "Off the Beaten Track" wines were unashamedly prominent at the supermarket’s autumn tasting in London last week.
Of the 33 Off the Beaten Track wines which ranged from Austrian Rotgipfler to South African Malbec, the supermarket hopes its customers will discover that many of Waitrose’s wines are like those “you would normally find in independent merchants rather than supermarkets,” added Shaw.
Shaw also outlined that even though Waitrose lists some “powerful brands,” he added “if anything, we’re scaling back on brands. The Off the Beaten Track theme is a real philosophy, it’s not PR related. These are weird and wonderful wines that do actually sell."
Despite its focus on more esoteric wines, Waitrose also highlighted during the tasting that its price matching scheme of 1,000 branded products with Tesco has helped to drive footfall and consumer trust, suggesting that this has contributed to Waitrose being the fastest growing multiple retailer in the UK for the past two years.
Jane Parkinson, 18.10.2010