Waitrose’s Commerical Director, Mark Williamson, has issued a trade update for the week ending 2 April, explaining that the date of Easter in 2015 has made it difficult to compare sales for the week on a yearly basis.
Sales for last week, excluding fuel, we down by 24.1 per cent compared with the previous year, which has a boost in sales from the Easter holiday.
Williamson said that "A more meaningful comparison is that sales this year were 1.8 per cent above the equivalent post Easter week in 2015."
In the update, he noted that promotions helped deliver strong sales in some categories, with non-food performing well, driven by the retailer’s spring cleaning campaign.
Wine and spirits performed well when compared to last year’s post-Easter week, with champagne sales growing by 28 per cent, and whiskies and cognac sales rising by 21 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Jenny Whelan. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
