Actually, Waitrose does have a good record on social and environmental issues, having won Organic Supermarket Of The Year for several years running, producing a huge amount of produce on British farms (including a huge swathe of Hampshire that is owned by the John Lewis Group) as well as “fair trade” goods, having an excellent record on staff relations and welfare and largely shunning out-of-town car-dependent Tesco-style locations for central stores that form a part of the community – take a look at the branches in Chichester, Burgess Hill and Romsey as examples.
Yes, I’ll admit to being a fan of Waitrose. Yes, they are a supermarket, and not a small independent (and yes, I use independents where I can and where they offer something I want to buy with a service that meets my needs), but, in my experience, they offer a far better product and service than their competitors, and I am prepared to pay for that.
And yes, beans is beans is beans. That was actually the point of my post – I was trying to highlight the importance of brand to differentiate one offering from another (very similar) offering.
separating the wanted from the unwanted