Waitrose Unveils Latest Food & Drink Trends

Namnews, 26th October 2021

Waitrose has released its latest annual Food & Drink Report which highlights some of the trends established during the pandemic.

The analysis confirms that people are placing greater importance on their homes and rediscovering dinner parties and entertaining friends and family. Sales of Champagne at Waitrose are also up 40% year-on-year as its customers spend more money on treats as the country emerges from the pandemic.

Over the year, people brought their kitchens outdoors with one in five of those surveyed by the supermarket saying they’d invested in a new barbecue while one in ten said they’d installed an outdoor bar.

The report into how eating and drinking habits have evolved over the past 12 months also highlights how social media has influenced shopping lists. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have driven sales of everything from feta and tortillas to pesto and potatoes due to viral food trends. The TikTok trend for making pasta chips at home also contributed to a 400% rise in sales of air fryers at John Lewis.

Meanwhile, the study confirms the way consumers shopped changed considerably with a quarter of survey respondents buying groceries online for the first time in 2021. The number of people buying food on a daily basis has also doubled in a year as they fell back in love with browsing the aisles for inspiration. Waitrose believes these shopping trends – increased frequency and the continued growth of online – will only accelerate in the future.

James Bailey, Executive Director at Waitrose, commented: “The past 19 months have seen us fall back in love with our homes. We’ve rediscovered the fun, creativity and sense of togetherness that food brings to our households and many have embraced the inspiration that we get from popping to the shops to pick up our groceries.

“The majority of the people we surveyed told us the pandemic has fundamentally changed their outlook: they’re more conscious of their mental and physical health, they’re enjoying life’s simple pleasures, and they’ve embraced the importance of family and friends.”

Waitrose analysed its internal data to provide insights into the products that defined the past 12 months as well as those that proved less popular.

Products that defined the year include:

• Canned fish – Sales of mackerel and anchovies rose by 17% in August 2021.
• Searches for barbecued watermelon recipes on Waitrose.com rose by 65% in August.
• Nostalgic desserts – Knickerbocker glory recipe searches on waitrose.com are up 171% this year.
• Sales of herbs and spices rose 41% this year with specialty salts proving to be the top performers.
• Sushi – Sales rose 54% while sales of sushi mats were up 57% and nori sales were up 56%.

The drinks that dominated drinks cabinets include:

• Rosé wine continues to dominate our wine shelves and sales of rosé fizz are up 47%.
• Cream liqueurs have become popular all year round (not just for Christmas).
• Sales of Champagne are up 40% year-on-year, while sales of magnums and bigger bottles are up 88%.

Products that people took off their shopping lists include:

• Lovage – alcoholic cordial from Bristol (delisted).
• Sales of ironing water fell by one-fifth.
• Tights sales are down 31% compared to 2019.
• Sales of sandwiches on the go fell by 45% between January and March compared to 2020.

NAM Implications:

• A report ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’, the retail aisle has to be of value to suppliers.
• i.e. worth a line by line comparison not only with your Waitrose business.
• i.e. check products that defined the year, the drinks that dominated drinks cabinets, and the products that people took off their shopping lists.
• But also as reference-check with your retail strategies going forward…