Waitrose is adding wine to its discount scheme for loyalty card shoppers for the first time, marking another twist in the supermarket price wars ahead of Christmas.
From Wednesday, the up-market grocer is offering a choice of 14 wines, including a Châteauneuf Du Pape, two Sancerres and a Chablis, under its “pick your own offers” scheme which gives MyWaitrose cardholders 20% off 10 items of their choice.
Other Christmas favourites, including stollen, organic mince pies and Schweppes tonic will also be included among 100 seasonal products on the list of 1,000 items which shoppers can choose from over the next few months.
The retailer said it would add fresh Christmas food to the scheme, including cheeses, pâtés, hams and seafood, in early December.
Waitrose launched its pick your own offers scheme for its 6 million MyWaitrose cardholders in June and since then nearly a million shoppers have signed up. Just over 80% of them regularly use their discounts.
Rupert Thomas, marketing director at Waitrose, says: “We want pick your own offers to be relevant to our customers and so we’re adding the things that people like to stock up on for Christmas, whether that’s essentials or festive treats. ”
However, Andy Stevens, an analyst at Verdict, said the Waitrose PYO wine discounts looked quite disappointing in comparison to the 25% off when you buy six bottles the retailer is already offering.
“All the supermarkets offer 25% off six bottles of wine at this time of year, it’s become as traditional as anything else at Christmas,” he said. “This doesn’t set Waitrose apart a huge amount.”
Stevens said food retailers were likely to focus on price again this year but it was becoming increasingly difficult to make dramatic moves after 18 months of price cuts. But he said the Waitrose scheme could help encourage visits from shoppers who naturally like to trade up to better quality at Christmas.
The retailer said the scheme could add up to £260m a year or more in costs, although it planned to split that with suppliers who have signed up.
Waitrose’s move comes as Asda said it would be offering discounts on food and other items in the run-up to Christmas as it ditches the one-off discount blitz of Black Friday in favour of a series of offers.
Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland warned that he expected a “spiky” run up to Christmas as Black Friday, on 27 November, puts shoppers in the mood for bargains.
