How a focus on helping customers live healthier lives unlocked growth at Waitrose

2 min read

Jul 12, 2018 12:00:00 AM

OxfordSM are proud to have been recently working with Waitrose, the upmarket UK grocer. Waitrose faced a clear business challenge – while they had a lead in healthy food, they were not seeing the type of growth they were hoping for from health. This was an area where Waitrose felt they could and should take a greater lead.

During the work with Waitrose, we held several interactive sessions to co-create a strategic plan aimed at unlocking growth. The plan included the creation of a clear vision of where Waitrose hoped to be in the future and a more detailed step-by-step road map which defined how they would achieve their vision, all captured on a single page.

Making healthy lifestyle changes easy

One idea which came out of the co-creation process was to offer unique services in-store to help customers live healthier lives. Based on this creative idea, Waitrose created a partnership to offer in-store health checks. Below you can find a few details of the program as recently featured in a Telegraph article.

It was a privilege to work with Waitrose on developing this action plan, please contact us if you want to learn more about how we work with clients to develop strategies which drive growth.

The supermarket chain [Waitrose] is teaming up with private healthcare company Bupa to provide healthcare assessments and advice across 17 stores.

Teaming up with Bupa

The move underscores how major high street retailers are experimenting with new ways to attract customers following the meteoric rise of online shopping.

Moira Howie, Waitrose nutrition and health manager, said:

"Many shoppers have the best intention to be healthier, but busy lives get in the way. We know that helpful advice can get people started and have a positive effect.

"This range of services from Bupa, who are experts in the field, complements a number of health initiatives we launched earlier this year to help customer live healthier lives."

Building this different type of partnership will give Waitrose customers a one of a kind experience. As Sarah Melia, director of Bupa Health Care Clinics said:

"In a UK first, supermarket customers will get the chance to try a range of leading Bupa services. By making it easy to access free health services, we’re confident this will help them make long term health and lifestyle changes."

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