Waitrose is set to rebrand its Duchy Organic range as it continues to refresh its premium own-label lines, The Grocer can reveal.
The supermarket registered new branding, including a new logo and green, black and yellow colour scheme with the Intellectual Property Office this week.
The Grocer understands that Waitrose will overhaul the product mix as part of the refresh, with the new lines set to hit stores in the autumn of 2025.
It’s the latest Waitrose own label to be overhauled, following the relaunch of its premium No.1 range in June last year. That saw 130 new lines added to the range, as well as the rollout of enhanced packaging. Waitrose also began a new advertising campaign to promote the launch.
Waitrose customer director Nathan Ansell, who led the project, told The Grocer in December that Waitrose would overhaul more of its own-label lines in a similar vein throughout 2025, after seeing a “significant uplift” in No.1 sales.
Like Sainsbury’s and Tesco, Waitrose has chosen to focus much of its NPD efforts on its more expensive own labels, to capitalise on demand for premium products from shoppers who are increasingly trading down from restaurants amid the cost of living crisis.
The supermarket’s own-label sales grew 5.9% in 2024, a large part of which it credited to the No.1 overhaul.
Investments in availability and its core IT systems have helped Waitrose reverse its recent market share falls. The supermarket now wants to build on the “positive momentum” and volume growth in its 2024 annual results by investing in its “quality” own labels and store experience, which it believes remain its key point of difference.
Waitrose describes Duchy Organic as the “UK’s largest own-label organic food and drink brand”. It was first launched by now King Charles III in 1992, with some sales on the products, which include pasta, pulses, tea bags and bread, donated to support UK farmers, including the Duchy Future Farming Programme. It was last revamped in 2021.
Waitrose declined to comment on any specifics of the relaunch, however a spokesman said: “We regularly register intellectual property, not all of which is used.”
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