Waitrose has shrunk almost every category in its range over the past year, new research reveals.
According to Assosia data for The Grocer, the supermarket giant‘s full range in November 2021 sat at 16,826 SKUs, however this has since been cut to 16,004 within the last year.
Categories that have been shrunk down most include drinks, food cupboard items and frozen food, each of which have seen a decline of just over 10%.
Beer, wine and spirits, household products, fresh food and health and beauty also saw minor cutbacks.
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Across all categories surveyed, bakery and pet care were the only two to see an increase in product ranges, with five additional pet care SKUs throughout 2022 and a further 54 across its bakery offerings.
In November, Waitrose expanded its partnership with Gail’s Bakery by trialing a dedicated new fixture in three stores, on top of a limited selection of some of the chain’s breads already sold in many of its UK stores.
“We will be optimising all of the proposition,” Waitrose commercial director Charlotte Di Cello told The Grocer.
“We need to optimise our SKUs so that we’ve got some clear line of sight as to making sure that we haven’t got light lines that our customers don’t particularly want, but absolutely not taking away from the more unique SKUs and the areas that matter to customers.”
This comes as the upmarket retailer will be joining forces with Planet Organic to stock its range of health-based products across its supermarkets and online stores.
The UK’s first fully certified organic supermarket is planning to bring its innovative health and wellbeing products to Waitrose customers next year.
