Waitrose has started selling Christmas trees for the first time this year.
The trees – which are all sourced from the Black Isle, north of Inverness in Scotland – went on sale this week in 180 Waitrose branches.
Waitrose is marketing the trees as an eco-friendly choice as they can be kept alive after Christmas – in pots or in the ground.
The move to sell Christmas trees follows Waitrose’s expansion into gardening products and plants earlier this year. This spring, it began selling a range of 850 flowers, plants, bulbs and seeds in selected stores.
In its weekly trading update, Waitrose said consumers were already starting to stock up on their Christmas meats. Last week, Christmas meat and accompaniment orders were up 16% compared with last year.
Beef orders were up particularly strongly – by 49%. Waitrose said its research indicated almost a quarter of its shoppers would try beef for a change this Christmas.
Total sales at Waitrose, excluding fuel, increased by 4.9% last week year on year.
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