M&S set to replace Waitrose as Middle Britain’s favourite

MARKS & Spencer is on course to replace Waitrose as the supermarket of choice for Middle Britain after a bumper Christmas.

Sales of food at M&S were up 12.1 per cent in the 12 weeks ahead of Christmas, while Waitrose saw a 3.6 per cent rise.

Both chains now have a market share of 3.8 per cent, with M&S on course to take over as Britain’s seventh-biggest supermarket for food. And it could overtake Waitrose parent company John Lewis in the list of the UK’s biggest retailers by 2026, after a revival in its fashions and homeware.

Sales across M&S stores and its website rose by 7 per cent to £3.9billion in the 13 weeks to the end of December. It is on course for profits to show an annual increase of around 33 per cent – a rise of £156million to £640million.

Almost 29 per cent of households shopped at M&S in December, equivalent to an extra 500,000 compared to the year before, according to analysts NielsenIQ.

M&S, Waitrose and other supermarkets have seen big increases in sales of premium products and dine-in offers as shoppers switch from eating out at restaurants.

But the greater growth at M&S came on the back of the buzz surrounding marquee products, such as its 60-minute Christmas dinner in a box. It sold nearly a million turkeys, including 195,000 of its pre-prepared slow-cooked birds. Alternatives to turkey were also up, with 335,000 beef and lamb joints sold – an annual increase of 14.1 per cent.

A 2023 survey by consumer group Which? named M&S as the nation’s favourite food chain with a score of 77 per cent, ahead of Aldi and Waitrose on 73 per cent.

The Friday before Christmas was M&S’s biggest day ever with sales of more than £90million.

Analysis by Retail Week predicts M&S will overtake John Lewis by 2026 as the UK’s seventh biggest retailer. M&S CEO Stuart Machin said: ‘We enter 2024 with a spring in our step, but clear-eyed on the near- term challenges. We are determined to deliver our objective of driving growth in market share and to increase the pace of our transformation.’

Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics, said shoppers ‘ have fallen back in love with M&S’, adding: ‘It’s been a mightily impressive turnaround.’