Morrisons’ big changes to ‘stop Lidl’ as it ‘becomes more like Iceland | UK | News
With Lidl becoming increasingly popular thanks to its no-frills approach, a UK supermarket rival has announced major changes to attract customers. Morrisons is trying to claw back some of its £1 billion losses while overhauling its loyalty and promotional strategy.
Retailers face pressure from supermarket price war Revenues fell to £17bn in the last financial year, from £18.3bn the previous year. The supermarket giant recorded its lowest annual revenue since its private equity takeover in 2021, piling pressure on CEO Rami Baitiéh, who became CEO just over two years ago. This was despite Mr Baitiéhto promising to “revitalize” the supermarket. And now Lidl is slowly coming to take Morrison’s crown as the UK’s fifth largest supermarket by market share. Lidl was ahead of Morrisons in the food and drink share in the 12 months to July.
But that’s not all bad news for Morrisons, as the chain entered the year on the back of its strongest quarterly performance in four years.
The man tapped to breathe new life into Morrisons is Andrew Staniland, who was commercial manager in Iceland for four years and previously worked at grocers Waitrose and Aldi.
Staniland, who previously worked as a buyer for Morrisons between 2012 and 2016, has created a new trading team that has created 10 jobs. General store I understand that some Category Managers have left in recent weeks.
One of the strategies he focused on was called ‘Icelandization’. The new product development program has seen Staniland dust off some of the strategies it used for Iceland and apply them to Morrisons.
In total, the supermarket has created 500 new product lines, including enhancing its global food offering and new dining opportunities.
Morrisons is also set to transform hundreds of corner stores in the south of England in a bid to boost shoppers.
The Bradford-based northern chain plans to open 250 new ‘Morrisons Daily’ convenience stores, offering convenience store owners the chance to convert their stores into Morrisons franchises.
The expansion aims to focus on under-represented areas, including cities in the South and Midlands.
Mr Baitieh defended his grocery strategy after doing something similar at French supermarket Carrefour.
