Bradford-based supermarket, Morrisons intends to stock more British goods and is calling on specialist food producers to get in touch with their proposals.
The retailer, already a long-time champion of British farmers, had a strong Christmas trading period with like-for-like sales rising by 9.3 per cent. The grocer tailors each store to local tastes and consumer demographics, meaning there are great opportunities for localised suppliers to grow trade going forward.
As the company revealed its sterling results, Sky News reported that of the big four grocery chains, Morrisons was “making the largest strides” following record Christmas trading and an even better rate of growth earlier in the year (12.3 percent). It was the only one of the big four to increase its market share over Christmas.
Chief executive, David Potts, who has presided over the company’s turnaround since 2015, said: “Two thirds of what we sell is British and I intend it to be more. We are the UK’s biggest producer of food.
“We are going to look for British entrepreneurs who have started their company in Britain despite recessionary times. They should call me and say: ‘I’ve got this great product. Do you want to sell it?’ If it’s legal, decent, honest and there’s consumer demand, the answer will be yes.”
“This has been an extremely difficult period for everyone. It’s clearly going to remain difficult for some time, but we remain focussed on playing our full part in feeding the nation. Sales have been strong and our amazing colleagues have risen to the unprecedented challenges and the business has real momentum.”
Mr Potts said shopping patterns and consumer behaviour had changes in the past year as large gatherings of family and friends were restricted, but customers still managed to celebrate.
“We are especially proud of our doorstep delivery telephone service, which is a great example of us listening and responding and moving fast.”
At the start of the pandemic, Morrisons realised a large group of primarily elderly and vulnerable people were unable to shop online. In two weeks the company had a system in place, hired 500 vans in a weekend, took phone orders and started delivering food to people who needed. By next week the grocer will have delivered 600,000 orders in this way.
“It’s old school for sure, but it works and in some communities, it literally saved Christmas.” The delivery service completed over 35,000 orders in the two weeks before Christmas and customer feedback has been extremely positive.
In the lead-up to Christmas, Morrisons saw more customers shopping earlier than in previous years, with traditional Christmas products proving especially popular. Champagne sales were up 64 per cent on 2019, whole salmon by 40 per cent and Free From mince pies up 14 percent.
