Waitrose’s Journey through Japanese Cuisine with Tastewise

“Harnessing the power of data-driven insights to pioneer culinary trends and delight our customers.”

Lizzie Haywood | Waitrose

Time-consuming manual research through menus, social media, and recipe websites to identify food trends.
Difficulty quantifying trends and pinpointing significant market opportunities.
Lack of data-driven insights to inform product development decisions.

The Japan Menyu range became Waitrose’s top performer in chilled meals.
Sales volume surged, demonstrating strong customer demand.
The range attracted new, younger customers, who spent an average of £5 more per basket.

Introduction

Waitrose, a leading grocery retailer, partnered with Tastewise, a consumer insights platform, to navigate evolving consumer tastes in the Asian meals segment.

Challenge

Waitrose faced several challenges in catering to the ever-changing preferences of their discerning clientele:

Navigating Culinary Trends: With consumer tastes shifting rapidly, Waitrose needed a tool to decipher the nuances of emerging culinary trends in real time.
Expediting Product Development: The conventional approach to product innovation was time-intensive. Waitrose sought a solution to accelerate the development of new product ranges without compromising quality.
Enhancing Market Insights: Limited by traditional research methods, Waitrose aimed to broaden its understanding of consumer behavior by tapping into a vast array of online conversations.

Why Tastewise

Tastewise emerged as the ideal partner for Waitrose, offering a suite of innovative solutions to address their challenges:

Real-Time Consumer Insights: Tastewise provided Waitrose’s team with invaluable real-time data insights. These insights helped them adapt to evolving culinary trends and consumer preferences.
Streamlined Product Development: The Tastewise platform’s efficiency allowed Waitrose’s team to significantly reduce development timelines while maintaining product excellence.
Global Market Perspective: Tastewise’s extensive data pool gave Waitrose greater, more immediate insights to global culinary trends, enabling them to better diversify their product offerings and cater to a broader audience.

Solution

The collaboration between Waitrose and Tastewise yielded innovative solutions that revolutionized the way Waitrose approached product development:

Data-Driven Proposal: Utilizing Tastewise’s robust data insights, Waitrose crafted a compelling business proposition for their new Japanese Menyu range, backed by tangible market trends and consumer preferences.
Swift Product Launch: Waitrose expedited the launch of their Japanese Menyu range, completing the entire process in just nine months—a remarkable feat made possible by Tastewise’s data-driven insights.
Market Penetration: The Japanese Menyu range proved to be a resounding success, attracting a younger demographic of customers and contributing significantly to Waitrose’s market share in the Asian meals segment.

Results

The collaboration between Waitrose and Tastewise yielded impressive results, underscoring the transformative impact of data-driven insights:

Enhanced Customer Engagement: The Japanese Menyu range attracted a higher percentage of new, younger customers, who spent an average of £5 more per basket.
25% Launch Time Shortening: This swift adoption facilitated shortened launch time 25%, identified through Tastewise data, reflecting Waitrose’s team’s agility in responding to market trends.
Revenue Growth: Waitrose witnessed a substantial value growth in sales revenue, with the Japanese Menyu range emerging as the top performer in the chilled meals segment. This rapid growth was further substantiated by a remarkable volume growth, demonstrating strong customer demand for the innovative offerings.