Waitrose invests £20m in own label price cutting campaign

Waitrose is investing more than £20m to cut prices across its own brand products.

The retailer said today it was cutting prices by an average of 12% across more than 160 own brand lines.

The move is the ninth round of its ‘New Lower Prices’ campaign, which was launched in 2023.

Waitrose said the lines included in the cuts were typically everyday staples and were bought by nearly eight in 10 of its customers. These included free-range eggs, onions, chicken thighs, apples, frozen peas, plus cupboard staples such as chickpeas and chopped tomatoes.

Some items have been reduced by more than 30% and almost half (47%) of the items in the latest batch of cuts are from the Essential Waitrose range.

A 120g bag of Waitrose baby spinach is down 31% to £1.10 while the retailer has cut a can of Essential Waitrose chickpeas by 26% to 70p.

Essential Waitrose British chicken thighs are down 19% to £3.20 per kilo.

Waitrose was keen to point out that the reductions in price did not mean any reductions in standards. It said that all of the reduced-price meat lines met higher welfare standards, including the Better Chicken Commitment.

“Customers are watching what they spend, but they don’t want to compromise on the food they buy,” said Waitrose chief customer officer Nathan Ansell.

“This investment is about doing the right thing for our customers, helping them save on the products they shop most often, while keeping the quality they expect from Waitrose.

“We know our customers – the Food Lovers who shop with us – want to feel confident in the food they buy, without compromising on what matters to them.”

Waitrose price cuts: