Waitrose’s value for money perceptions have never been higher, according to managing director Tom Denyard, who has hailed the supermarket’s performance despite a “challenging” first half of the year.
Sales at the premium grocer rose by 4% to £4.3bn during the 26 weeks to 1 August 2026. Profits overall fell by £7m to £103m, however, due to difficulties from the summer heatwaves, which increased maintenance costs and led to longer working hours in stores.
Waitrose had also deliberately chosen to invest in lowering prices and into its MyWaitrose loyalty scheme, Denyard said.
In May, it invested £20m into cutting the price of 160 of its own-label lines. A further investment “of a similar magnitude” was planned over the coming months, taking its total investment into lowering prices to £180m over the past three years, Denyard added.
“How customers rate us for value for money is the strongest we’ve ever recorded. That tells us the choices we’ve made, and they were choices, are the right ones.”
Waitrose’s net promoter score for its loyalty programme had risen by 20 percentage points following the launch of Little Treats in September 2025, which offers members free gifts when they reach a certain spend threshold. More than 10 million Little Treats had been handed out since launch, which had helped lift volumes and get shoppers into stores more frequently.
“We’ve continued to make progress on the measures that matter most,” Denyard said.
“Customer satisfaction and net promoter score have both continued to improve throughout the half, and brand consideration has never been higher.”
Waitrose remained “thoughtful” about the continued impact of the Iran war, and extreme weather conditions on food prices going into Christmas. However, he insisted Waitrose was “very well placed” to cope with any further pressure.
During the period, Waitrose invested into improving 15 of its stores, with 13 more set to undergo refits by the end of the year. Waitrose has confirmed plans to open three new sites, including two new full line supermarkets in Hale Barns and Cricklewood.
Its rollout of electronic shelf edge labels – which are now in 225 of its stores – had helped it improve efficiency and cut costs in store.
“We’ve got brilliant relationships with our suppliers and very deep and long-term relationships with farmers. We’re in a particularly good position in the UK where we take a lot of our fresh assortment from, so we’ll continue to invest there,” he said.
Waitrose the driver of JLP
Waitrose’s results were once again the driver of the wider John Lewis Partnership, where overall sales fell by 2% to £6.3bn during the first half of the year. The drop was not unexpected, as the partnership made “all of its profit” during the second half of the year, and crucial Christmas period, according to chairman Jason Tarry.
“We could have slowed our investment down in the face of a more challenging market,” Tarry said. “We chose not to because pulling back would have been a short-term decision at the long-term expense of the partnership. Being owned by our partners means we can take the longer view.
Looking ahead, Tarry welcomed the bringing forward of the autumn budget to October for reducing speculation and improving consumer confidence. However, he urged Chancellor John Healey to reform proposed changes to business rates.
“When we talk about the regeneration of the high street, which is also something that I know the government’s focused on, we support it.
“But in many cases, not just our John Lewis stores, but also our Waitrose stores, are destinations on those high streets. The rebalancing that is being talked about around small store relief for large stores would mean that those anchor stores would be caught in business rate increases.”
The partnership already paid more than £150m in business rates. Increases to National Insurance contributions and EPR costs had added £50m in costs last year.
“Anything that can help us with growth, reducing costs or reducing the cost of doing businesses is going to be super important for us,” Tarry said.
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