Waitrose customers throw hissy fit over empty shelves

Waitrose is facing another tongue-lashing from its well-heeled shoppers, this time over empty shelves, with some outlets looking more like the country is suffering post-war rationing as the fall-out from an IT glitch refuses to die down.

The John Lewis Partnership supermarket prides itself on its wealthy customer base, although they are never shy in coming forward when issues arise.

And last week, Waitrose was forced to grovel to customers after a technical hitch hindered the grocer’s replenishment. Although the company claimed the issue had been fixed last week, shoppers took to social media at the weekend to vent their fury.

One shopper posted: “Thoughts and prayers with whomever is on Waitrose’s IT helpdesk this weekend… #stillempty”; while another wrote:”They are literally killing their own business by a hundred empty shelves at a time ….. seriously and folk leaving buying online.”

A third said: “Their IT is a mess. Lots of change at senior level over the last few years, and the last I was aware of they were looking to outsource everything in an effort to bring headline costs down. I know people who interviewed for roles and backed away because of the shambles”, and another added: “Waitrose and John Lewis are a mess. That’s what happens when you hire someone at the top who hasn’t worked in retail. Chaos and plans to move into the property business.”

The disruption is understood to have mainly hit deliveries of fresh food, such as fruit, vegetables and meat, but packaged goods suppliers say they are also experiencing issues with the supermarket.

In a statement, Waitrose claimed it had “fixed the cause of the problem”, and that “regular daily deliveries” were going to all its branches. The supermarket added: “Many shops now have good availability, and we’re addressing localised issues as quickly as possible.”