Waitrose sales grow to £7.54bn as 3% staff bonus reinstated

Waitrose sales have grown to £7.54bn and the 3% staff bonus has been reinstated, as it reports sales growth of 1% on a like-for-like basis for the financial year 2020/21, and 11% over the past two years.

The supermarket’s strong performance was revealed as part of the full-year results of parent company, John Lewis Partnership, which saw the retail group announce a 38% surge in profit before exceptional items, to £181m.

As a result of this, John Lewis will be reinstating its staff bonus , which will be returning at 3% for this year.

Alongside this, staff will also benefit from a 2% pay rise as the group becomes the first UK retailer to pay voluntary Real Living Wage nationwide.

Waitrose share of online sales also continues to grow year-on-year, currently standing at 17% of total sales, up from 14% a year ago and 5% in 2019/20.

Read more: Waitrose makes u-turn on digital-only loyalty scheme

As part of the ongoing group transformation, John Lewis will also be investing £55m to complete its ongoing 23 major refurbishments of 23 Waitrose stores, while £72m investment will be going towards digital services and distribution.

“This is a year of opportunity for the partnership, despite economic headwinds,” said John Lewis’ Partnership chair Sharon White.

“As we head into the second year of the partnership plan, our five year strategy to transform the business, we’re gaining momentum in the most competitive retail market in history.

“Our focus on quality, value, sustainability and exceptional service is serving us well.”

White also spoke of “continued uncertainty from global events” affecting the economic environment while inflation and energy rises see the customers “face higher living costs”.

“While this creates uncertainties as we look ahead, we remain focused on investing significantly in our partnership plan to transform and grow our business.”

This focus will include working with Waitrose suppliers to keep prices as low as possible and continuing to offer savings on products via the recently revamped MyWaitrose loyalty scheme.

The group has also increased capacity for online orders with a new distribution centre in Greenford which has capacity for 280,000 orders per week, up 20% on the previous year.

In addition, the Deliveroo partnership is now available in more than 150 Waitrose stores, while the supermarket continues to trialling the ‘Deliveroo Hop’ ultra-fast delivery platform.