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Waitrose is to bring back free coffee for shoppers even if they do not buy anything in its supermarkets, as it attempts to win back middle-class customers from arch-rival Marks & Spencer.
The company emailed customers to say it was changing the My Waitrose terms and conditions from next week. The message said: “You’ll be able to get your free hot drink without buying anything in store first. Don’t forget your reusable cup!”
This will replace the current terms which require something to be bought first.
The My Waitrose scheme, which was introduced in 2011 and has 9m members, originally offered a free tea or coffee without a purchase. This propelled the supermarket into the second-largest provider of coffee in the UK.
But its policy was changed following long queues and complaints from regular shoppers who claimed that it was attracting freeloaders rather than genuine customers.
The supermarket said: “Some of our My Waitrose members like to have the free coffee before they shop or during the shop, rather than afterwards, so we are just offering a bit of flexibility in response to customer feedback.”
Waitrose clamped down on the scheme in 2017, requiring loyalty card members to make a purchase. A year later, the supermarket stopped providing disposable cups – requiring customers to bring in their own reusable ones.
Since its launch, the scheme has rankled independent coffee shops. In 2013, the Gelateria Gazzeria, a cafe 20 yards from the Waitrose in Buckingham, filed a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading. The regulator said it would not be taking any action.
A year later, Andy Sawford, then the shadow communities minister, claimed it would “further destroy the British high street”. Waitrose said the claim was “nonsense”.
The improved offer comes months after Waitrose was overtaken in grocery market share by M&S for the first time outside Christmas trading. Data from Kantar showed that M&S won a 4.03pc share of the grocery market for the four weeks to Nov 3, compared with 3.76pc a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Waitrose’s share dropped to 3.91pc, down from 4.02pc in the same period in 2023.
M&S also scored the highest sales increase among major supermarkets during the period, with a year-on-year jump of 11pc.
The surge in M&S sales came as the retailer upgraded 1,000 products last year in an attempt to beat rivals on quality.