Total sales at Waitrose slipped 3.5% year-on-year over the week to 11 May, with the chain blaming comparatives with a much warmer week in 2018.
However, the chain highlighted that the cooler weather had lifted sales of cold weather food and drinks, including hot drinks, soups, and prepared meals. The final days of a Spring Clean promotion in its stores also led to robust sales of household products.
Overall, sales in the ambient category were down 2.6%, whilst sales in Chilled, Fruit, Veg & Hort., Bakery, Meat, Fish, Frozen and Dairy slipped 3.4%. Sales in the Home & General Merchandise category plummeted 11.7%.
Meanwhile, sister chain John Lewis returned to growth after a poor run of results in recent weeks. Its total sales edged up 0.6% year-on-year as the cooler and wet weather boosted visits to its stores.
Fashion sales were up 0.2%, lifted by an 8.4% increase in beauty, wellbeing and leisure. Electrical and home technology sales grew 3.4% thanks to a 38% surge in TV sales, whilst home sales were down 3.3%.
