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Get your free copy04 March 2009, 17:16 PM
- It seems the draw of heavy discounting and price matching has been too much for Waitrose as it announces a move away from its traditional high quality, high price ethos, to enter the supermarket price war.
To compete with the other multiples, Waitrose has launched a lower-priced, everyday food range. From next Monday the “upmarket” store, will be offering its own version of competitively priced “Essentials”.
The new range will, however, not be priced as low as the leading supermarkets economy lines. The supermarket is keen that the offering is not positioned as similar to the Tesco Value and Sainsbury’s Basics lines. Despite this, the launch will be viewed as a U-turn by rivals and suppliers, as Waitrose has previously refused to enter this market.
Recently, under its managing director, Mark Price, the supermarket has attempted to push its competitive prices, running more discount offers while continuing to promote the quality of its offering. Waitrose will also run ads, to emphasise the quality of the products.
