Morrisons Dissecting Its New Direction

Executive Summary

• Faltering UK grocer Morrisons has unveiled a new strategy that effectively means rowing back on some of the changes it has introduced in recent years.
• Out go its convenience store estate, fancy in-store merchandising and, probably, its still-new loyalty card program. In comes a back-to-basics focus on its core supermarkets, localized offerings and lower prices.
• The changes come six months after David Potts was brought in as CEO to replace Dalton Philips, who had introduced many of the changes now being undone.
• The announcement came as Morrisons revealed that first-half comps (ex fuel) had declined by 2.7% and that first-half operating margins were down to 2.1% from historical levels of 5% plus.