Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The popularity of BBC2’s baking competition series, The Great British Bake Off, has seen sales rocket at JLP sister stores John Lewis and Waitrose.
Overall sales at John Lewis were up 14.2% in the week to September 22 when compared to the same week last year, while at Waitrose they rose 8.1%.
With home cooks around the country trying to emulate the creations of the programme’s contestants, sales of food mixers leapt by 48% year-on-year at John Lewis. And at Waitrose overall bakery sales rose by 5.7% and eggs by 8.6%.
Waitrose customers also boosted sales of cake coverings and decorations by 46.1% and cooking chocolate by 40.4%. And it seems that even non-cooks have been inspired by the programme, with cake mix sales up 46.9%.
Waitrose supply chain director Dave Jones commented: “The ever-increasing popularity of the BBC2 series continues to inspire a nation of cake makers.
“Even those who aren’t rolling out and whipping up their own creations are still having their tastebuds tempted – as demonstrated by the sales of frozen strudels. Ready-made versions of the technically complex dessert, which were the subject of last week’s [September 18] showstopper, were up by 56%.”
The Great British Bake Off sees 12 home bakers fighting it out every week in the hope of being named Great British Bake Off’s Best Amateur Baker. In the Tuesday-night series all the contestants are given a set of challenges to test a range of baking skills.
