Waitrose Case Study
Background:
Waitrose Ltd, part of the John Lewis Partnership, prides itself on combining the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and dedicated service of a specialist shop. Their reputation is built on the quality and freshness of their food. Their online service, Waitrose Deliver, has the same high standards and includes grocery items along with Fresh Service Counter goods and a range of prepared foods for entertaining.
Brief:
Waitrose wanted to launch a consumer shopping website and needed images captured and hosted for the entire range of own label and branded products. Brandbank was asked to develop a plan to rapidly populate the site and produce a product art direction to meet the exacting standards of Waitrose. Furthermore a system had to be in place to allow management of the Waitrose range, product change and deletions files and allow the ongoing population of the site with new products.
Execution:
Brandbank commenced this vast project by advising Waitrose of a recommended image style plus specifications, hosting rules, supplier liaison and reporting. Brandbank created a bespoke Waitrose Images Library to ensure images are of a consistent high standard, can be easily accessed and updated. Brandbank created a bespoke reporting system to import their range, deal with product sample picking lists for local Waitrose branches, packaging changes and product suppressions. Initially a mobile studio was set up next to a Waitrose store and Brandbank captured images of the first 5,000 own label items. Branded suppliers were contacted with regards to creating the necessary photography and Brandbank now manages the entire supplier base. Brandbank captures Waitrose fresh service counter images using a home economist and each month we convert images added to the library into new sizes for their Merchandising team. Due to specialist services provided to Waitrose, they have a dedicated Brandbank Account Handler.
Result:
With over 30,000 images hosted in the Waitrose Images Library, Brandbank continues to create images for own label products according to the style and format of each product type and art direction. Brandbank uses Waitrose weekly updates to ensure all branded and own label images are up to date. We work closely with Waitrose internal departments and stores regarding missing or changed lines, including store audits to physically check that the packaging of shopfloor goods which are picked for online consumers match the images displayed online.
