Coming to a petrol station near you - Little Waitrose

A good example here of how an established brand can pursue an organic growth strategy by targeting new locations which serve a new customer base…

The convenience store segment has become a major battleground for grocery supermarket brands in recent years with the likes of Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local expanding rapidly.

Waitrose wants to extend its reach and has identified petrol stations as an opportunity for its new convenience store format - “Little Waitrose”.  Waitrose’s chosen partner for this strategy is Shell, who will continue to own the sites concerned.  However, Waitrose will take over the operation of each petrol station, acting as Shell’s agents for the sale of fuels.

A good example too of using pilot or test launches first to test the suitability of the business model before investing in a much larger-scale roll out of the retail format.

Waitrose is a useful example for students to use of a brand that is very much pushing for rapid expansion by extending its geographical reach.  As the corporate section of the Waitrose website explains;

“Waitrose is currently undergoing the biggest period of expansion in the company’s history and is setting ambitious targets to establish our brand in new locations throughout the UK. We now have more than 260 branches in England, Wales and Scotland as well as shops in sixteen Welcome Break motorway service stations, the Channel Islands and stores in both Dubai and Bahrain. We have set our sights on opening at least 25 little Waitrose convenience shops and ten larger supermarkets across the UK in 2012 to ensure we continue to build on our growing reputation for quality and service.”

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