UK | Waitrose online Christmas slots have been filling rapidly, up six per cent on last year.
John Lewis and Waitrose customers have been preparing for Christmas earlier than ever. Sales of decorations from the John Lewis Christmas Shop, including baubles, trees, and decorations, are up 20 percent yearly.
Single Bauble sales went up 40 percent compared to last year. Best sellers were the fondant fancy, the Battenberg cake, the Quality Street tin, the hare with a felt wreath, and disco ball cherries.
Customers have also been buying other decorations, with stocking sales double what they were this time last year and wreaths and garlands up 41 percent.
Searches online for Christmas gifts and party food are up threefold, while searches for Christmas chocolates and desserts have doubled.
Items already in customers’ online shopping baskets showed that this year, the Cinnamon Knots were giving mince pies a run for their money as the third most popular Christmas treat ordered.
Delivery slots for online orders were being snapped up fast, with 70 percent of the Christmas delivery slots already filled (up from last year). Collection slots were also in strong demand. The most popular day has been the 23rd of December, when nine out of ten slots were already filled.
In John Lewis, the return of the Never Knowingly Undersold brand promise has captured customers’ imagination. Since the new look price match was launched last month, Waitrose lowered prices 55,000 times across 31,000 products.
As a result, Waitrose has seen an average of 89,000 extra visits to the John Lewis website a day compared to the six weeks before the return of Never Knowingly Undersold and a five percent leap in visits year on year.
“We’ve been surprised that customers are shopping earlier than ever this year. Sales are significantly up as customers can't wait to get their hands on some festive sparkle, and we see they’re buying confidently,” said Lisa Cherry, Head of Buying for Christmas for John Lewis.
“Single baubles are selling like hot cakes and, appropriately, this year’s front runners - fondant fancies and Battenberg slices wouldn’t be out of place in the bake-off tent.”
Cherry expected the return of Never Knowingly Undersold to significantly boost trade over the Black Friday period, as customers could be confident that the prices would be tracked across competitors.
Maddy Wilson, Director of Waitrose's brand, has already seen a massive appetite for Christmas, with online slots filling up faster than ever before and customers stocking up early on the festive treats.
“Our fantastic Christmas range of over 500 products is in hot demand with volumes up 25 per cent up on this time last year.”
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