Following today’s release of Waitrose & Partner’s figures for the six months ending 26 July 2025; Eleanor Simpson- Gould, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “Waitrose & Partners has achieved a robust 5.5% uplift in total revenue sales for the 26 weeks ending 26 July 2025, boosting Group H1 sales for John Lewis & Partners. These results reflect the grocer’s ability to have grown its customer base amid rising costs for consumers and intensifying competition among mid-market grocers. Key to Waitrose & Partners’ success during this period is its ability to retain premium appeal, which will have bolstered the grocer’s sales during the Easter period as consumers traded up and treated themselves for the occasion. Despite this strong sales performance in H1, the grocer has not been immune to squeezed margins, with adjusted operating profit falling 2.7% to £110m and operating profit margin softening 0.3ppts to 2.8%. As John Lewis & Partners enters the golden quarter, it is cautiously optimistic that the second half will build on the momentum of H1.
“As pricing competition mounts among UK grocers, Waitrose & Partners has upgraded its MyWaitrose loyalty scheme; in August, the grocer announced the trial of ‘Little Treats’ to reward customers for hitting spending milestones, with free products or money-off vouchers each month; the initiative was formally launched on 1 September. The grocer’s loyalty scheme has been performing successfully, with signups to its scheme rising 6% in H1, but the hope is that new initiatives will further drive the scheme, and help future proof Waitrose for the second half of the financial year.”
