Morrisons - DoYouBuzz

Transcription

Morrisons
A supermarket success story ?
Anne LETSCHER, Justine LORENTZ , Anaïs MEHL
01/01/2013
Morrisons
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3
II.
Procedure ........................................................................................................................................... 3
III.
Findings........................................................................................................................................... 3
A. Before the store ................................................................................................................................. 3
1. Origin of the products (producers and countries) ....................................................................... 3
2. Brands .......................................................................................................................................... 8
3. Discounts: how do they do? ...................................................................................................... 10
B. In the store ....................................................................................................................................... 14
1.
Company culture ................................................................................................................... 14
2.
Morrisons’s marketing strategies .......................................................................................... 15
3.
Discounts ............................................................................................................................... 18
4.
Differences between France and Scotland in the supermarkets .......................................... 21
C. At the customer’s ............................................................................................................................. 22
1. Relationship with the shop from your house (website, apps, Youtube channel) .................... 22
a.
Morrisons’s website............................................................................................................... 22
2. Satisfaction products and services (survey) ..................................................................................... 28
D. The latest major news about Morrisons .......................................................................................... 36
1.
Disappointing sales for Christmas ......................................................................................... 36
2. Morrisons becomes local ........................................................................................................... 37
3. Morrisons expand its market by launching clothing range ....................................................... 37
E. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 38
F. Appendice ......................................................................................................................................... 40
Anne LETSCHER - Justine LORENTZ – Anaïs MEHL
Page 1
Morrisons
1.
Survey .................................................................................................................................... 40
2.
Interview of Jill Nicholson – a non Morrisons’ customer ...................................................... 41
3.
Interview of a sales assistant working at Morrisons’ ............................................................ 42
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: ADVERTISMENT FOR THE FRESH FISH AT MORRISONS' .............................................................. 4
Figure 2: FROM FARM TO SHELF: HOW MORRISONS CONTROLS ITS SUPPLY CHAIN, SAVING MONEY
AND DELIVERING QUALITY SHOPPERS ....................................................................................................... 6
Figure 3: AN AD FOR THE BUTCHER STALL ................................................................................................. 6
Figure 4: AN AD FOR THE OVEN FRESH STALL ............................................................................................ 7
Figure 5: SOME OF THE M SAVERS PRODUCTS .......................................................................................... 8
Figure 6: SOME OF THE M KITCHEN PRODUCTS ........................................................................................ 9
Figure 7: SOME OF THE NUME PRODUCTS ................................................................................................ 9
Figure 8: SOME OF THE M SIGNATURE PRODUCTS .................................................................................. 10
Figure 9: A SPECIAL OFFER ON MORRISONS' WEBSITE ............................................................................ 11
Figure 10: A SPECIAL OFFER EXAMPLE ..................................................................................................... 12
Figure 11: ADVERTISMENTS AT MORRISONS' ENTRANCE........................................................................ 19
Figure 12: SPECIAL OFFERS AND HALF PRICE SIGNS IN MORRISONS SUPERMARKET.............................. 20
Figure 13: EVERYTHING FOR 1£ ................................................................................................................ 20
Figure 14: DISCOUNTS, 3 FOR 4£.............................................................................................................. 21
Figure 15: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE PAGE "FOOD AND DRINK" ON MORRISONS' WEBSITE .............. 22
Figure 16: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF MORRISONS' FACEBOOK PAGE ......................................................... 24
Figure 17: A SCREEN CAPTURE FROM THE MORRISONS' WEBSITE "FUEL SAVER" .................................. 25
Figure 18: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE MAIN PAGE OF MORRISONS CELLAR WEBSITE .......................... 26
Figure 19: AN AD FOR "MORRISONS ON YOUR MOBILE" ........................................................................ 27
Figure 20: A SCREEN CAPTURE FROM THE MORRISONS MAGAZINE ....................................................... 27
Figure 21: SURVEY RESULTS': CLIENTS' GENDER ...................................................................................... 28
Figure 22: SURVEY RESULTS'; AGE OF THE CUSTOMERS .......................................................................... 29
Figure 23: SURVEY RESULTS'; SITUATION................................................................................................. 30
Figure 24: SURVEY RESULT'S; HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU USUALLY SHOP FOR? ................................. 30
Figure 25: SURVEY RESULTS'; WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GOODS? ................. 32
Figure 26: SURVEY RESULTS': WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STAFF AND THE CUSTOMER SERVICES?
.................................................................................................................................................................. 32
Figure 27: SURVEY RESULTS'; HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK DISCOUNTS ARE? ............................... 33
Figure 28: SURVEY RESULTS'; DO YOU USUALLY BUY MORRISONS' OWN BRAND PRODUCTS?.............. 35
Figure 29: SURVEY RESULTS'; HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON THE WEBSITE? ................................................ 35
Page 2
Morrisons
I.
Introduction
We’ve chosen to make a project about the fourth largest chain in the United Kingdom,
namely Morrisons, since we got used to go shopping there and were wondering how this
supermarket worked. We were interested in knowing for example how they are able to offer
discounts or what kind of marketing or supplying policies they use.
The Wm Morrisons Supermarkets PLC was founded in 1899 by a butter and egg merchant,
William Morrisons. Starting with a stall in a market in Bradford, Morrisons got the idea to
innovate and invest in supermarket retailing.
Morrisons has now become a household name with 403 shops in the whole Great Britain.
According to morrisons.co.uk, nine million customers pass through Morrisons’s doors every
week. 2004 stands as a turning point in the history of the brand with the opening of the first
Morrisons’s store in Scotland.
II.
Procedure
In order to collect information about Morrisons, we made a survey to depict the profile of
the typical Morrisons’s customer. We also made in-depths interviews with a sales assistant
and customers. We also read a lot of newspaper articles and used other websites on the
internet such as for instance morrisons.co.uk. We learned a lot about the stores by spending
time in one of them and making observations as for example concerning the differences
between France and Scotland. It helped us to have an insider view of the supermarket.
A copy of the questionnaire we used for the survey and the transcripts of the interviews can
be found in the appendices.
III.
Findings
A. Before the store
1. Origin of the products (producers and countries)
In Morrisons, most of the products come from British producers. This means that the
majority of fruits, vegetables, meats and fishes come from Great Britain.
a. Fishmonger
In the supermarket, different stalls are suggested, for example, the Fishmonger stall
which offers fish or the Butcher stall which sells meat. Both have a great variety of products.
For instance more than 50 different types of fishes and seafood are fished in Cornwall, in the
south-east of England, for Morrisons. To produce all the fresh fish, Morrisons has acquired an
empty factory in Grimsby and had equipped it for seafood production, since the end of 2012.
It is assumed that this factory will produce 10,000 tonnes of seafood every year. The fact that
Page 3
Morrisons
Morrisons has its own seafood factory represents more fresh food that can be sold in its
stores, while making efficiency savings that allow more affordable prices across its stores.
“Nobody else is buying direct from the quayside but we’re doing it. Building this seafood
business is allowing us to move our fish from ‘catch to kitchen’ even more quickly,” said
Dalton Philips, chief executive at Morrisons.
For the opening of this new factory, Morrisons recruited professional people who have a lot of
experience in the sea-food industry and the good retail sector, as heads of operations.
Morrisons will also shortly appoint a fisheries and aquaculture specialist to further develop
their credentials in sourcing and sustainability.
This means that all the fishes Morrisons prepare in store come from Great Britain and are
controlled by Morrisons specialists. For all those reasons, Morrisons even received, the
“Superfish and fish award” in 2012.
Figure 1: ADVERTISMENT FOR THE FRESH FISH AT MORRISONS'
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Market-Street/Market-Street-Fishmonger/
b. Morrisons’s butchery
On the Morrisons's website, in the rubric Butcher, they claim that their “Academy
trained butchers will prepare your 100% British meat just the way you like it”. They make for
sure that “From sirloin steaks to pork chops [they] check over every cut to ensure you get
quality fresh meat every time”. Moreover, they even prepare British meat in store, for
example, they make their own handmade beef burgers. Morrisons's rotisserie's chicken is also
100% British. At the end, Morrisons manages to sell more than 80 different cuts of fresh meat
which directly come from Great Britain.
Page 4
Morrisons
In addition, Morrisons received two main awards of overall categories, in supermarket
contests: “Meat & Fish retailer of the year” and “Head Office Initiative Award”.
This level of quality can be explained by the fact that Morrisons is the only supermarket which
owns its own slaughterhouses. Morrisons has three slaughterhouses in Great Britain, and has
its own farms. Morrisons with his own slaughterhouses and its direct contracts with farmers,
manages to cut out the middle men? This means that Morrisons has a tighter control on the
provenance of the meat that is sold in store. It is the only grocer that has pursued a strategy
to integrate its supply chain. In this way, Morrisons controls its own supply process from calf
to check-out. This is also why Morrisons didn’t have problems with horse meat : Andrew
Loftus, Morrisons’ farm operations manager, says “Our livestock buyers visit the farms weekly,
select the cattle that come to us, dispatches it to our abattoir and from there it either goes
straight to stores, or to our retail packing plant – it’s as simple as that. We know every bit of
our supply chain, but when other supermarkets have to buy and trade raw materials in the EU
and outside you don’t have the same visibility.” What makes Morrisons different is that its
livestock buyers regularly visit their farms and pick which cattle will be sent to the abattoirs.
Lofthus said: “The buyers go out to the farms and have a relationship with the farmers. They
know his methods and they hand pick the stock. ”When the cattle goes to the slaughterhouse
a vet even checks that the tag relates to their passports and that the animals are the ones
selected by the buyer.
Morrisons slaughters nearly 200,000 cattle each year, more than 700,000 lambs and well over
a million pigs at its three abattoirs. A 400 volt charge is passed through the animal’s head,
killing it instantly. Their bodies are then hoisted up by a chain, attached to a leg, and the
process to strip it of every valuable part begins. The hide is carefully removed and sent to a
tanner in Scotland. The carcass is drained of its blood and guts, while expert butchers carve
away the various cuts. Representatives of both the FSA and the Meat and Livestock
Commission stationed in the abattoir verify the quality of the meat. It is vacuum packed and
sent for handling at Morrisons’s main processing plant. On the one hand, this method
guaranties consciously checking and safety, and on the other hand it keeps prices very low.
Morrisons seems to have found the perfect recipe to produce quality for a very low price.
Page 5
Morrisons
Figure 2: FROM FARM TO SHELF: HOW MORRISONS CONTROLS ITS SUPPLY CHAIN, SAVING MONEY AND
DELIVERING QUALITY SHOPPERS
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2282534/How-Morrisons-cut-middlemen-deliver-better-meat.html
Figure 3: AN AD FOR THE BUTCHER STALL
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Market-Street/Market-Street-Butcher/
c. Fresh goods in Morrisons in general
Of the food sold in Morrisons’ stores, 50 per cent is fresh, and of that half again is
produced by Morrisons’ employees themselves. The grocer has 17 sites including three food
processing plants, seven produce-packing centers, two bakeries, a seafood site and even a
flower factory.
Page 6
Morrisons
That is how Morrisons manages to sell fresh food, and especially take away fresh food. On
their website, on the “Fresh to Go” rubric, it's even written that “Fresh food at your
fingertips…We’re busy throughout the day creating fresh sandwiches just for you”. Actually,
on the 403 Morrisons stores in the UK, 327 of them are doing sandwiches every day. That
means that 82% of Morrisons’s stores make their sandwiches by themselves every day. On the
Oven Fresh counter, the employees are baking throughout the day for extra freshness so
customers can even get it while it's hot. This is how Morrisons bakes over 40 different types of
pies. Once again, when it comes to their steak pies, they only fill them with 100% British beef.
Figure 4: AN AD FOR THE OVEN FRESH STALL
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Market-Street/Market-Street-Oven-Fresh/
By buying food from British producers, Morrisons shows that they want to support the best of
British farming and to secure the long-term viability of British farming. The supermarket deals
directly with over 5000 farmers. Since 2008, they have established Producer Groups for dairy,
poultry and beef farmers. The focus of each group is how to overcome barriers in the supply
chain and lead research and investment projects that will reap benefits for farmer and
customer alike.
With their own factories as well, Morrisons manages to keep prices very low while still
checking every part of their chains. Having partnerships with farmers and owning factories has
plenty of advantages. That is how Morrisons manages to have more than 50% of his products
in store fresh, and to produce more than 25% of the goods by itself, in stores as well.
Page 7
Morrisons
2. Brands
According to www.racplus.com, Morrisons aims at respecting four priorities: “The need
to buy conveniently; the need to buy responsibly; the need to buy fresh food – made by
Morrisons; and the need to buy on a budget.”
Morrisons offers a large range of products to respond to the customer’s needs such as M
Savers, M Kitchen, M Signature or NuMe which were created only a few years ago to extend
Morrison’s market. Nevertheless, Morrisons always makes a point of honor to use fresh
ingredients to differentiate itself from the other stores.
a. M Savers
.
Figure 5: SOME OF THE M SAVERS PRODUCTS
M Savers, as its name indicates it, is a brand offering everyday life products at an excellent
value. A lot of these products cost less than one pound. The packaging is simple: it is mostly
white or transparent, with a one color drawing showing the products, a no-frills name and the
name of the brand. This presentation is proper to all the M Savers goods.
Page 8
Morrisons
b. M Kitchen
Figure 6: SOME OF THE M KITCHEN PRODUCTS
Morrisons claims on its website that M Kitchen “is a brand-new hub of exciting ideas where
[their] in-house team of chefs creates 100s of delicious new dishes.” Presented in transparent
packaging, the biggest part of the product is visible for the customer, which makes it look
much more attractive and mouth-watering.
c. NuMe
Figure 7: SOME OF THE NUME PRODUCTS
NuMe offers varied healthy products developped by chefs and nutritionists. It includes frozen
meals, yogurts, salads, meat, fish, deserts but also store cupboard products. They are easy to
identify and recognize for the consumer since the design of the wrapping is always the same.
Page 9
Morrisons
It is divided into four different green and yellow squares: one with the name of the brand and
the second with an attractive picture of the product. The third one gives dietetics data such as
the number of calories. Finally, the last square shows the name of the dish, gives consumption
recommendations and some adjectives to qualify it.
For instance, this is what is written on NuMe pizzas: “With a yummy two cheese and crème
fraîche sauce and loads of lovely veg and 375 kcals per ½ a pizza, you can indulge in your
favorite Italian dish without the guilt.”
a. M Signature
Figure 8: SOME OF THE M SIGNATURE PRODUCTS
M Signature offers high quality and tasty products such as Christmas pudding, raspberry
roulade or shortcake presented in nicely designed wrappings. The label on the goods have
baroque pattern which make them look more refined and sophisticated even though it is still
sold at affordable prices.
3. Discounts: how do they do?
As we saw before, Morrisons produces 25% by itself, and for most of this production,
the supermarket owns the factories. It means that it is definitely cheaper to produce those
goods, because Morrisons avoids all the intermediate producers.
The main thrust of this strategy is commercial – it’s all about bringing down costs for the
customers, but also for them, during the production step.
Morrisons also buys its products in big quantities because it is less expensive. This is why,
most of their discounts concern products bought in big quantities. It encourages the customer
Page 10
Morrisons
to buy more and more and to make the stocks empty. Everything has to disappear, in this
way, the employees can fill them again and encourage consumption. If the stocks are empty,
it means that products have been sold, and that Morrisons can fill them again until they are
empty again. It is a virtuous circle which makes the supermarket wins in every way. Moreover,
an empty store shelf doesn’t look attractive which is why Morrisons offers are constantly
quantities offer. To dump the stocks, Morrisons has different strategies.
For example, you can buy 2 products for the price of 1 and a half. For instance, with Pizza, you
can get any 2 for £5 instead of £3 each.
Figure 9: A SPECIAL OFFER ON MORRISONS' WEBSITE
https://www.morrisons.co.uk/Offers/Categories/Fresh/
Some other offers are concerning goods that you can have in duplicate if you buy one. For
example, you can buy Pilgrim’s Choice Cheedar for £3,99 each and get one free.
Page 11
Morrisons
Figure 10: A SPECIAL OFFER EXAMPLE
https://www.morrisons.co.uk/Offers/
If you come to Morrisons at the end of the day, you’ll also be more likely to find offers. For
example, if they didn’t sell all of their fresh bread at 5pm, they offer quantity prices. For
example, a fresh bagel which costs 25 pence will be sold with 3 other bagels for the same
price. It means that the customers will have 75% price off. An ex baker testifies, on the
moneysavingexpert.com forum, that Morrisons “reduces the stuff with one day's life,
doughnuts, fresh bread, etc at about 5pm, by about 25%, then take it down by another half
about an hour before the store closed”. According to him, “this is about the best time to go.
The stuff with 2 days life, such as bread loaves they bake, would get brought in at the end of
the day, sliced and put back out the next day to be sold in the morning, so if you're buying
bread in Morrisons always ask for it to be sliced to make sure it is that day!”. Expiry date is
significant in discounts as well.
To support our researches, here’s an interview of an anonymous former baker who worked
for Morrisons, at the Oven fresh/Pie shop. It can be found on the forum of
MoneySavingExpert.com
Question: Which supermarket did you work for?
Answer: I used to work for Morrisons in Oven fresh/Pie Shop.
Question: What times of day do you reduce prices?
Answer: It depended on what manager was on, but generally 2 before close or 1 before close.
Question: How big are the discounts? (If the computer does it automatically, do a rough
estimate)
Page 12
Morrisons
Answer: If it was done by machine it would be up to 25% at first and a manager would then
allow you to take more off. Sometimes if we had a lot to get rid of then we would reduce it
quite a bit, say a £2.99 chicken to £1.59 or at the very end down to £0.99. Some of the pies
went from £1.19 to £0.20. If the manager didn't really care you could reduce it to what you
wanted (10p min)
Question: What time is the final, final reduction ?
Answer: Sometimes down to 10p.
Question: Who has the authority to reduce prices?
Answer: Managers gave the go ahead and we reduced it. Usually we knew what time to
reduce but others you had to wait to be told (long story associated with this and why I quit).
Question: If a customer asked you to reduce something because it’s on it is sell-by date are
you allowed to?
Answer: Most of the hot food was to be sold same day so it doesn't really apply
Question: And any other useful tips …
Answer: Wait an hour before close for reductions and hang about until the end if you really
want cheap stuff. If it doesn’t get sold then it gets binned and the managers don't like that
due to the amount of money wasted. You may be able to ask at that time if they can take it
down any further and if they are nice I did do it. Also another tip regarding the sales floor,
always look at food at the back of the shelf, usually the longest dates are put to the back.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=419108
As a comparison, a former salesman from Tesco gave an interview on the same forum and
said they “used to reduce the end cuts of meat on the deli immediately, these would be at
50% of the price. On Sunday reductions started immediately and were only reduced by 10%
maybe 20% on less desirable items. Then with an hour to go to close things would be reduced
to maybe 50%.” He also says that the final reduction was 15 minutes before close”.
In Asda, at the Bakery Department, the store policy says that reductions usually start about
6p.m and that the usual discounts are on French sticks, donuts, pies, whole meal/granary
items and all packed buns/rolls that have been baked in store. The discounts are usually at
first about 1/3. The interviewed seller from MoneySavingExperts.com says that “this normally
gets rid of a few items as people buy them because they are reduced”. The final reduction
depends upon staffing but “usually at 8ish there is another set of reduction, then around
10pm, but it depends on the staff, the remaining is put right down, this is because the night
shift begins at 10”. It should also be noted that, in Tesco, the majority of markdowns are taken
to the front of the store so this is a good place to find things”.
Page 13
Morrisons
To sum up, Morrisons’s most current reductions are about fresh food which may be waste. In
this way Morrisons empties its shelves and makes more and more money, because even if
they sell food with very cheap prices, especially at the end of the day, they are still getting
money. Moreover, they even wrote on their website, on the rubric “Policy”, that “We always
try to sell food rather than discard it, and discount items that are near their ‘best before’ date.
Our ‘Great Taste Less Waste’ campaign helps customers reduce food waste and save money
by offering clear storage advice on pack, online and in our regular magazine.”
B. In the store
1. Company culture
Morrisons started out, and remained for many years, a family business. But even if
Morrisons is the fourth largest supermarket in the United-Kingdom, and employs currently
about 120,000 people, being more than just a colleague is still very important. Indeed, being a
family is the state of mind of the company.
First of all, it is important to underline the fact that according to Morrisons, they are very
present for these employees. In fact, Morrisons has launched its own “Academy” and has
trained all 40 000 of its 16 to 24 year old employees to achieve a QCF Level 2 Retail Skills
Qualification, which is a national certificate to work in the retail environment, so to become a
sale assistant. They want to instruct their staff in order to preserve the unique Morrisons’s
culture and they “believe that providing people with a job, a qualification and a chance of a
career is the basis for building loyal and committed team members” – Philips Dalton (chief
executive). Every colleague has the opportunity to achieve a QCF Level 2 Retail Skills
qualification. Morrison’s employees generally have left school very early and with few
qualifications; through this program, Morrisons give a chance to everybody. In fact, Morrisons
is also the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK, with more than 12 000 apprentices
last year. For Morrisons the key values are “approach, great shop keeping, one team, bringing
the best out of our people, great selling and service and fresh thinking”.
Furthermore, Morrisons scooped the title of “Employer of the Year” in 2010 and 2011. The
judges said “Morrisons ticked all the criteria” and cited their commitment to “offering
customers the best possible service by ensuring our colleagues feel rewarded and motivated”.
They were also praised for third innovative ways in which Morrisons engages with the staff at
all stages of their career, such as the Morrisons Plus retirement club”. Morrisons can keep in
touch with all of their employees via their own Morrisons’s pensioners club: the Morrisons
Plus Retirement Club. It is a club which helps the staff switching from employment to
retirement by providing a range of financial, health and lifestyle support. The idea was to
make sure people saw retirement as the next positive step in their life. A former Morrisons’s
employee for example, can use their club discounts card, can become a mystery shopper and
can even provide shift cover at busy terms of the year. But Morrisons is generous with its
current employees as well: they pay all their apprentices with the national minimum wage at
Page 14
Morrisons
least, and Morrisons allow their employees to develop theirselves in the company. In 2011,
4,000 Morrisons’s employees progressed from entry level jobs to junior management
positions after first passing an apprenticeship. Working in Morrisons seems to be pleasant. In
2012, the employee stability was 86.95%. It means that 86.95% of the Morissons employee
stayed more than one year in this company last year.
But, as you can imagine, everything is not as perfect as you could think by reading the former
paragraph. In fact, even Philips Dalton, the chief executive, said that the personnel
management is omnipresent in Morissons’ supermarkets; every Morissons’ store has a
dedicated Store Personnel Manager who directly depends on the Store General Manager and
by reading lots of forums, we have noticed that lots of Morissons’s employees are
complaining about their managers. They think that they are too many managers in
Morissons’s supermarkets, that they are not really effective and that they are too much paid.
At the same time, lots of employees complained about their discounts. The staff “only”
benefits from a discount from 10% each time they buy at Morrisons. We have also read that
an employee has quit his job because it was too difficult; the managers asked him for too
much he said. Currently, this employee is working in a call center and in the forum he
underlined that he really prefer work there than in a supermarket as Morissons. Another
person wrote that Morrisons does not really think about the comfort of their employees; for
example, their uniforms are very uncomfortable. In addition to that, all the employees need
to change their clothes in “normal” clothes (no Morissons uniform) if they want to do their
shopping or to take a rest in the Café after work.
We found a couple of interesting forums, such as http://formums.digitalpsy.co.uk about
Morrisons and we have often read that the employees are considered very differently if they
are manager or ‘’just’’ sales assistants. However, it is important not to generalize some critics
because, even if lots of sales assistants complained about the stress that managers bring,
some are happy with their job there. For example, a woman who work at the “deli and cooked
food” area, think that it is a very pleasant place to work at. According to her, you spend a
good time working there because you are always in contact with the customers and you are
very free, until you do your job, you can speak as you want with the customers.
2. Morrisons’s marketing strategies
In the context of economic crisis, developing marketing is very important for a
company to attract customers. Successful businesses depend on outstanding marketing
strategies to gain parts of the market. Their products and services have to be the ones that
satisfy the needs of consumers. Marketing can also have a significant effect on a company's
performance in terms of influencing the customers’ buying behaviour. Marketing strategies
Page 15
Morrisons
rely on product advertising, distribution, pricing, relationship administration and positioning.
Morrisons has adopted several marketing strategies to stay the leader of the market.
From the end of November to the end of December, the sales decreased by 2.5% compared to
the same time last year. This Christmas was a really disappointing period for Morrisons. Philips
Dalton, the chief executive of Morrisons thinks that Morrisons was caught up in the “me too”
marketing from the supermarkets over Christmas, which meant communications from each
supermarket looked the same. Philips vowed that Morrisons’s marketing will be different this
year but says that the shift will take time to impact performance. Philips does accept that
Morrisons is in "transition" and hired a new marketing director, Rebecca Singleton.
In terms of managing this transition in 2013, Philips wants Morrisons's marketing to
emphasize more its points of difference with other supermarket. So, Morissons has adopted
several marketing strategies in order to stay one of the leaders of the market and in order to
be different, be distinctive.
Firstly Morissons use pricing strategies a lot. And they are different kinds of pricing strategies:
The economy pricing strategy: used by Morrisons when they drop their prices of their daily
use items – almost all the grocery items are below market prices.
The Psychological pricing strategy: used when Morrisons attribute prices like 99P for
example. In the customers mind, it sounds better that 1£. With this strategy Morrisons is
looking for a psychological impact on the customers.
The promotional pricing strategy: It is the most common marketing strategy. The Morrisons’s
chief executive, Philips Dalton, spoke about that in December 2012; "This year we have been
quite one dimensional with items prices. We have fallen into this trap of just talking to people
about deals – £1 toothpaste, 4 beans for £2. That is really important, but if you do that then
you are just doing what everyone else is doing. Our opportunity is to actually let people see
behind the curtain", he said. That is why their marketing strategy is not only connected to
prices; we will see that they have lots of other strategies.
Secondly we can notice that the Product Placement is an important strategy as well. In fact,
according to Laura Nerdy, a British marketing specialist “Not a single product in a supermarket
is placed randomly. Marketing experts calculate when, where and how consumers make a
quick grab.” Indeed, almost no customer comes back home with only targeted products that
were written on their shopping lists; customers often buy products spontaneously when they
are shopping in a supermarket. One explainable reason is product placement, which
represents the position of the products in aisles. For instance, Tesco and Morrisons generally
place the bread and milk at the very end of the aisles. Marketers know that bread and milk are
daily essentials for almost everyone and the main reason for customers to go shopping in a
supermarket is to buy these products. Customers will have to walk pass a lot of products to
Page 16
Morrisons
get to what they want, and during this time, it is tempting for them to buy other goods lying
on the shelves.
Thirdly, we can talk about the STP strategy; STP stands for Segmentation Target Positioning
and this strategy includes several strategies as well:
The Demographical strategy: The United Kingdom is a multi-cultural country and that is why
Morrisons has adapted itself to this fact and does not sell exactly the same products in its
different stores all around the UK. This demographical strategy divided Morrisons’s market
according to the race, gender and age; for example, in places where they are lots of Asian
people, Morrisons provide more products they may like, such as rice, vegetables... Morrisons
is giving a very care full attention to this strategy because it attracts always more and more
people.
The Geographical strategy is close to the demographical strategy and makes a company
divide itself into areas, then into different parts which are themselves divided into regions.
Morrisons has divided United Kingdom’s market into 4 parts: firstly in counties, then these are
divided into cities and finally cities are divided in sites like central, north, east, west,
northwest etc. In this way it is very easy for the company to give proper attention to all of its
sites.
The Distribution and channel strategies are very useful for Morrisons as well; Morrisons has
its own distribution channel that delivers its products to the different stores. Fresh food is
taken from Morrisons’s own farms; it is then distributed to the concerned factories which
have to pack the goods. Finally, they distribute it to Morrisons’s stores. It also means that the
supermarket brand can control every element of the chain and avoid problems. Morrisons is
paying more attention to its distribution network than other supermarkets.
In addition, the brand image is something very important too. Morrisons is especially famous
for its very fresh food. It is actually the second largest supermarket that sells fresh food in the
UK. Indeed, it is one of the point on which Morrisons insists the most. It is also a very familial
supermarket which sells food for every member of the family, from babies to elderly people.
That is probably why Morissons took “ITV show Britain’s Got Talent” as a sponsor; it provides
a way to show that Morrisons has talent. And, the presenters Ant & Dec, who will front ads for
the supermarket, offer personality that a brand ranges of consumers can relate to (people
from 9 to 99 years old are watching this program). Furthermore, in their advertising spots,
Morrisons show that they are different from others businesses. In fact, lots of brands use the
image of celebrities to promote their own brand, but Morrisons “keeps it simple” as in its last
advertising spot for example, which came out for Christmas, the typical day of a housewife is
described, so that everybody can feel concerned. “This will be a big brand campaign
demonstrating that we understand our customers and resonate with the challenges they face
in the run-up to Christmas”, said Richard Hodgson, Morrisons’s Commercial Director.
Page 17
Morrisons
Morrisons’s aim is also to always become closer to its customers. It is one of the reasons why
Morrisons created several websites, and even one which exclusively concerns wine. On this
website, you can really notice that Morrisons tries to help its customers by taking care of
them. On http://www.morrisonscellar.com/, you can even do a test in order to know which
bottle of wine is the most suitable for you (according to your tastes). Furthermore, thanks to
this test, Morrisons know the preferences of its customers and can adapt the bottles they sell
and the positioning of those bottles on the shelves.
Morrisons has adopted different marketing strategies in order to stay in the market.
Morrisons regularly do special discounts to attract more and more customers. They are also
offering plenty of products for a special group of people; they adopt a focus strategy.
Morissons offers many services to its customer like free eye check-up, to attract more and
more people or customers…
So we have seen that they have lots of different marketing strategies, sometimes connected
to prices but not always, in order to be different. Moreover, we are not yet finished to
discover new marketing strategies because they are always looking for new ones to stay as
attractive as they are yet for customers.
3. Discounts
When you shop at Morrisons, you can find different kind of discounts ads. There are
based on different strategies which match to the path of the average customer.
First when you are in front of Morrisons, you can view Morrison’s advertisements in front of
the shop, from the street. In the Morrisons of Portobello, you can find 4 red steamers that are
promoting every day products for very low prices.
When you pass Morrisons alarm doors, most of the time they are covered with ads. For
example, on the picture below, you can see that products Special K cereals are half priced. The
main color of this ad is red again and the promotional are so big that you cannot miss it.
Page 18
Morrisons
Figure 11: ADVERTISMENTS AT MORRISONS' ENTRANCE
http://www.cosineuk.com/grocery-retail-images-from-wc-6th-august/morrisons-sutton-20120808-11/
When you enter in the shop, you can also find little islets of reduced food. Most of the time, it
is sweet food such as donuts, muffins, chocolate fingers, cookies, and so on. It immediately
attracts customers. For example 4 muffins were sold £1 to approximately 1 month, instead of
£1.90. You can find those islets around the whole shop. When you approach to salted
products as salads, sandwiches or even meat, Morrisons put bagels, bread on those islets. But
generally, in contrast with the sweet products, those salted products are close to their
expiration date. Indeed, bread, sliced bread or bagels do not keep for very long,
approximately 2 or 3 days. To empty the stocks, their put those kind of products in front of
the customers eyes. Moreover, if there is bread on those islets, it generally expires the day
when it is exposed. When the shelves become more neutral, you can find sugar products
again, such as chocolate, cereal bars, etc, … Usually, those products only cost £1, such as
chocolate. It seems more accessible for customers, and that’s how they manage to sell small
quantities in a very short time. By putting temptation everywhere, Morrisons encourage
people to consume.
On the beginning, of every shelf, you can also find some advertiser panels to attract
customers, as on this picture beyond where it is written “Half Price” and “Special Offers”.
Most of the time, they put offers in the entrance of each alleys to arouse curiosity and make
customers go further, in order to push to consume.
Page 19
Morrisons
Figure 12: SPECIAL OFFERS AND HALF PRICE SIGNS IN MORRISONS SUPERMARKET
http://www.dijitalimaj.com/alamyDetail.aspx?img=%7b2CBB838A-A8CD-401D-978B-D6320380C75D%7d
You can also find discounts in shelves. They mark it with red and white tags that catch the eye
of the customer. The red is one of the colors that attract the most people, because it’s the
most intense color of the light spectrum. It’s also the color that you can see the best when it is
remotely. It’s the ideal color for Morrisons to tag discounts. In addition, those tags are at the
height of your eyes and of your arms.
.
Figure 13: EVERYTHING FOR 1£
http://www.groceryinsight.com/blog/2011/07/morrisons-driving-efficiency-a-bit-of-m-local/
Page 20
Morrisons
Figure 14: DISCOUNTS, 3 FOR 4£
http://www.groceryinsight.com/blog/2011/07/morrisons-driving-efficiency-a-bit-of-m-local/
This strategy to put adverts in the supermarket itself is called Point-of sale display, POS. It’s a
specialized form of sales promotion that is found near, on, or next to a checkout counter (the "point
of sale") and the previous conveyor belt. They are intended to draw the customers' attraction to
products, which may be new products, or on special offer, and are also used to promote special
events, for example seasonal or holiday-time sales. POS displays includes shelf edging, dummy
packs, display packs, display stands, posters, and banners.
4. Differences between France and Scotland in the supermarkets
Studying how supermarkets chains work here is also a way to notice cultural
differences between France and Scotland. In fact, what might appear as being totally normal
in a country can be considered as strange and unusual in the other one.
Here below is a list of the main differences we observed between these two countries.
Firstly, it is possible to buy medicines such as Paracetamol in Morrisons’ stores in self-service
without any prescription from your general doctor. In France, this would be unthinkable as
you have to go to a drugstore to buy any kind of medicine. Secondly, there are still free
plastic-bags at the cash desks whereas in France, there are no longer free nor in self-service.
The fact that plastic bags are charged aims at preventing people from using too many of them
and is an attempt from supermarkets to be more ecologically friendly. However, reusable
shopping bags are suggested at the cash desks like in Scotland.
Moreover, we can also underline the fact that the shop makes a point of honour of customer
service. For instance, cashiers offer each client whether or not they want some help to pack
their purchases which is not the case in France.
A major difference between the two countries relies on the products that are sold,
emphasizing the consumption habits of both cultures. One of the most striking difference
concerns the size of the cheese shelves: in France, there is a huge range of choice for cheese
Page 21
Morrisons
whereas it is very limited here. We can also point to the fact that the shelves on which beans
are suggested are far bigger than in France where it is not a staple food and even less eaten
for breakfast. Finally, even though there is a large choice of bread in the shop, there is no real
bakery.
C. At the customer’s
1. Relationship with the shop from your house (website, apps, Youtube
channel)
a. Morrisons’s website
Morrisons has its own website on the address http://www.morrisons.co.uk/. It is very
developed with 9 main headings : Offers ; Market Street ; What's new ; Food & drink ; Family
Life ; Let's Grow ; Competitions ; Buy Wine ; Saturday Night. It is very complete with a lot of
subcategories such as “NEW Red Bull Editions” or “meal ideas”. The rubrics are even divided
in subcategories which contain accurate information. In this way, the website seems to
support the client from the production, with explanations about the farmers they work with,
to the cooking, with some recipes ideas. Through its very developed website, Morrisons
shows that it is close to its customers. We can also notice that, on the website, most of the
wallpapers are pictures of fruits and vegetables. Morrisons keeps its “fresh” image. For
example, on the “food and drink” rubric, you can see images of fresh tomatoes and pepper. It
gives a connotation of healthy goods, which is very positive for the supermarket.
Figure 15: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE PAGE "FOOD AND DRINK" ON MORRISONS' WEBSITE
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/
Page 22
Morrisons
b. Morrisons’s YouTube channel
Morrisons has even a You Tube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/morrisons, as
a part of in communication strategy. They created it on the 5 May 2006. In the UK, more than
half of the population is You Tube users. Posting videos on this international website is good
for their image. Especially when you know that 3.3% of the You Tube users come from United
Kingdom, and that Great Britain is second on the top countries uploading You Tube videos
with 7%. For all those reasons, You Tube is the 4th most famous website in the UK.
On the Morrisons channel, you can find more than 113 videos. From excusive recipes for
Christmas and Halloween, to videos promoting their fish counter, Morrisons suggests varied
subjects for all ages. It shows once again that Morrisons wants to be close to its customers.
For instance, they teach you how to bake original cakes. When they show fishermen and
farmers in their videos, it is as if they take the customer by the hand to show him the
backstage of the production. Morissons’s employees appear really close to each other and
seem to have on same and unique goal: having the best products to make the customer
happy.
On its channel, Morrisons has 496 subscribers and more than 1 155 000 views. Thanks to this
success, Morrisons is more visible on the internet. Moreover, the ads you can see on this
channel are actually real ads that you can see on the British television.
c. Morissons’s Twitter account
During those last years, Twitter has known an incredible expansion in only 6 years of
existence. Today it has 200 000 000 users in the world, and United Kingdom is the second user
of Twitter in the world with 17.09% of British users. It’s very useful to spread information in a
very direct and quick way, to find new clients or to keep in touch with current clients.
Morrisons’s Twitter account has 19 048 followers and has tweeted 2 852 times. It usually
tweets links with discounts, special offers, or videos from the You Tube channel. For instance,
“Pick of the Street – Save 1/3 on Pork Loin Steaks & Joints, now just £6/kg!” was tweeted on
the 22 of February 2013 and promotes food that you can find in store.
Morrisons has several accounts: one main account @Morrisons; but also accounts for the
supermarket new, @Morrisonsnews; and one for their online magazine @Morrisonsmag.
Once again, having your customers on Twitter is a very simple way to communicate with them
about news or discounts in store.
Page 23
Morrisons
d. Morrison’s Facebook account
Facebook has more than 900 000 000 active users, and 32 000 000 users are British.
The UK is the sixth-largest market for Facebook worldwide. For instance, British users have
grown up by over 2.1 million over the last six months.
Morrisons has 150 745 people who “like” its Facebook page and 29 098 people who have
shared the articles Morrisons has put on Facebook. On its description on the page, it is
written: “We love food, pure and simple. ‘Like’ this page for delicious meal ideas, exclusive
competitions, great offers and advice from our Market Street experts.”
Morrisons tries to be original on its Facebook page, with for example creating battles with
different menus their baked. The users can vote for which meal they prefer, and share other
ideas of recipes. Morrisons tries to create a real interaction with its customers.
Figure 16: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF MORRISONS' FACEBOOK PAGE
http://www.facebook.com/Morrisons?fref=ts
e. Morrison’s magazine
Morrisons’s
has
created
an
online
magazine
on
the
address:
http://imag.morrisons.co.uk/. It is exclusively about recipes. For example, they show how to
do different types of smoothies, pancakes or soups, and they give advices about wine. On one
page, they even help you doing a diet. They show you which products you can eat and cook
for a very low price, it’s called “I’m watching pennies … And pounds”. You can also play some
games and win trips in Dubai, fitness retreat stays or Chinese cook books.
Page 24
Morrisons
You can also find this printed magazine in stores. For example, for Easter, they published new
original recipes. For example, they teach you how to cook a cake in the form of a nest with
eggs.
f. Morrisons fuel service’s website
Morrisons has a fuel station. They even decided to create a website about it, on the
address http://www.morrisonsfuelsaver.co.uk/. They offer their customers to have discounts
on fuel every time they buy a gift card in Morrisons. The gift cards concern shop as Next,
Accesorize, Topshop, but also restaurants such as Bella Italia. With this strategy, Morrisons
hopes to sell more gift cards and encourage people to buy fuel in their stations.
Figure 17: A SCREEN CAPTURE FROM THE MORRISONS' WEBSITE "FUEL SAVER"
http://www.morrisonsfuelsaver.co.uk/
g. Morrisons cellar’s website
Morrisons
has
also
created
a
website
about
wine
on
http://www.morrisonscellar.com/. It suggests discounts on wines but also gives advice to the
customers. You can also do quizzes and tests, to see which wine matches you the best. There
is a rubric about wines all around the world and information about them as well. Through this
website dedicated to wine, we can guess than Morrisons gives a great importance to wine.
Page 25
Morrisons
Indeed, in the supermarket, a great place is dedicated to wine as well, with even delimitated
wood flooring. Wine is a real business, and Morrisons had understood it.
Figure 18: A SCREEN CAPTURE OF THE MAIN PAGE OF MORRISONS CELLAR WEBSITE
http://www.morrisonscellar.com/
h. Morrisons on you mobile
With the increasing use of smart phones, a lot of applications have been developed to
keep users constantly informed. For this reason Morrisons developed 3 applications for smart
phones.
With the first one, called “Offers in Store”, Morrisons gives you recommendations on items
that are cheaper. It informs you regularly about discounts and offers. Here’s the description
you can find on the Morrisons’s website: “Get more for your money with our latest offers and
recommendations straight to your phone. It even calculates how much you'll save on items in
your shopping list.”
With the second application, called “Smart Shopping List”, you can make your own shopping
list on your smart phone. The description says: “You'll never forget to buy brown sauce again.
As soon as something runs out, pop it on the list and tick everything off in store.”
Page 26
Morrisons
The third application, “Find your Local Store” helps you to find the nearest Morrisons. The
website says: “No matter where you are, you'll always be able to find your nearest Morrisons,
view their opening times and get directions.”
Figure 19: AN AD FOR "MORRISONS ON YOUR MOBILE"
http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Help-and-information/Useful-information/Morrisons-on-yourmobile/
Figure 20: A SCREEN CAPTURE FROM THE MORRISONS MAGAZINE
http://imag.morrisons.co.uk/issue26.html
Page 27
Morrisons
2. Satisfaction products and services (survey)
We did our survey in front of Morrisons, on Friday 22 February 2013, from
approximately 2p.m to 4p.m. The 60 people who answered our survey represent the
Morrisons’s customers for this time period. This is why we have to be careful and pay
attention not to generalise those results to all the Morrisons’s customers.
Our survey contained 13 questions. Through those questions, we tried to define the profile of
the typical Morrisons’s customer. This is why we asked them about their sex, their age, their
professional situation and for whom they are shopping for. We also questioned them why
they are shopping in this supermarket, and what they think of the quality of the goods and of
the staff. To understand their habits, we asked them in which supermarket they usually go to
shop in as well. One question was also how important they think discounts are. To understand
Morrisons’s image, we asked what comes to mind if we say “Morrisons”. We requested if they
usually buy Morrisons’ own brand products. We tried to see if the supermarket’s website has
an impact on the customers by asking if they have ever been on it. Finally we asked an opened
question: what would they change about Morrisons if they could.
a. Sex
According to the customers we asked on the 22 February 2013, from 2p.m. to 4p.m., most
of the people who are shopping in Morrisons’s are women. Indeed, of 60 different people, 40
of them were women and 20 of them men. This means that 67% of Morrisons customers are
women and that 33% are men. If we can not make a generality of our surveys, we can still
deduce that most of the customers are women.
Clients' gender
Female
Male
33%
67%
Figure 21: SURVEY RESULTS': CLIENTS' GENDER
Page 28
Morrisons
b. Age
Secondly, we asked for the age of customers we met during this two hours. 2 people were
under 18 years old, or 3%; 9 were between 18 and 25 years old, or 15%; 3 people were
between 26 and 35 years old, or 5%; 44 to 55 people totalled 9, or 15%; and 26 people were
over 55 years old, or 43%.
According to our survey, nearly half of Morrisons’s customers are over 55 years old. But it was
Friday afternoon, and most of the working people, between 25 and 55 were at their work,
whereas retired people went to Morrisons to avoid rush hour at 5p.m., when the workers are
on their way to home. Otherwise, we can see that that people between 36 and 45 years old
are also likely to shop at Morrisons, because they are the second largest customer category
after people over 55 years old. We can deduce that those people are active people who are
working and who are shopping for their families.
Age of the customers
-18
18-25
3%
26-35
15%
36-45
44-55
44%
5%
55+
18%
15%
Figure 22: SURVEY RESULTS'; AGE OF THE CUSTOMERS
Page 29
Morrisons
c. Situation
Most of the people we asked were retired people who were doing their shopping to avoid
rushing hour. They were 48%, or 29 of 60, not working or retired. 43% or 26 were active
workers, whereas 8%, or 5, were students. According to our survey, the main customers are
retired people and workers.
Situation
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Students
Workers
Not Working / Retired
Figure 23: SURVEY RESULTS'; SITUATION
d. Number of people for whom customers are shopping
40% of the customers we met were shopping for themselves. We can explain those
numbers by the 43 not working and retired people we met. 23% were shopping for 2 people,
18% were shopping for 3 people, 8% for 4 people and 10% for 5 people. This means that 60%
people are shopping for 2 at least. Morrisons’ customers are mostly couples or families. We
can maybe explain it by the discounts which mainly concern products that are cheaper if you
buy them in two for one. It may also show that Morrisons’s has a family friendly image. It
means that Morrisons is a synonym of family and sharing.
How many people do you usually shop for ?
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1 person
2 people
3 people
4 people
5 people
Figure 24: SURVEY RESULT'S; HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU USUALLY SHOP FOR?
Page 30
Morrisons
e. Reasons for shopping at Morrisons
Most of the people we met told us that that they mostly shop at Morrisons because it is
close to home. Indeed, on 60 different people, 40 gave us this reason, or 53%. The second
main reason we noted, is the prices: 18, or 24%, think Morrisons is cheaper than other
supermarkets. The large choice is the third reason, with 11% people convinced, and 8. 13%
ticked the box “others”, by meaning that Morrisons is “simply the best” or that they like it
because of fresh fruits, vegetables, bread. Most of the people we met told us that they love
shopping at Morrisons because they have they are used to this supermarket, and this is why
they are continuing shopping here.
Why do you go shopping at Morrisons ?
%
Close to home
53%
Prices
24%
Large Choice
11%
Others
4%
The best
1%
Like it !
3%
Fruits, vegetables, fresh bread
3%
Habit
1%
Cafeteria
1%
Page 31
Morrisons
f. Quality of goods
In general, Morrisons customers are pretty satisfied by the quality of goods. 6 people told
us that the quality is excellent, whereas 10%, 50% said that the quality is very good, 35%
believe that the quality is good, 5% that it is fair, and no one told us that the quality was poor.
We can explain it by the huge quantity of fresh food that the supermarket sells, such as fruits,
vegetables, fish, or fresh bread. We will return to this point later.
What do you think about the quality of the
goods ?
5%
10%
Poor
35%
Fair
Good
Very Good
50%
Excellent
Figure 25: SURVEY RESULTS'; WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GOODS?
g. Quality of the staff
Most of the customers are also satisfied by the staff. 8% think the staff is excellent, 60%
think it is very good, 17% think it is good, 15% think it is fair and no one told us that the quality
of the customer services was poor. For the non-satisfied clients, we can explain this by the
attitude of some staff members. Some of the clients told us that some of them are pretty rude
and not very helpful.
What do you think about the staff and the
customer services ?
8%
Poor
15%
Fair
Good
17%
Very Good
Excellent
60%
Figure 26: SURVEY RESULTS': WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STAFF AND THE CUSTOMER SERVICES?
Page 32
Morrisons
h. Supermarket where Morrisons’s customers
Most of the people we met are mostly shopping at Morrisons (52%). 17% are also
shopping at Sainsbury’s, 9% at Adsa, 8% at Tesco, 8% at Lidl, 2% at Aldi, 1% at Waitrose, and
1% at Iceland. We can deduce that most of the Morrisons customers are loyal clients.
i. The importance of discounts
For most of the Morrisons customers, discounts are very important. Indeed, 45%, or 27
people told us so. 8% think that discounts are even extremely important, whereas 30% think
that they are somewhat important, 13% think they are not very important and 3% think there
are not at all important. Thus, most of the customers are attracted by discounts Morrisons
offers.
Clients (%)
How important do you think
discounts are ?
50
0
Opinion
Figure 27: SURVEY RESULTS'; HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK DISCOUNTS ARE?
j.
Image of Morrisons
We asked customers what they think about if we tell them “Morrisons”, and 17% told us
“food”. 10% told us vegetables and fruits. 9% were thinking about the colors yellow and
green, because of Morrisons’s logo. 7% were thinking about the word “fresh”, 6% about
“groceries”, 6% about “supermarket”, 6% about “local shop/close”, 4% about “bread”, 3%
about “nice store”, 3% about “quality” , 3% about nothing at all, 3% about alcohol – they told
us that it is very cheap to buy at Morrisons –, 3% about “2 for 1” – inscription they wrote to
promote discounts, 3% about “choice”, 1% about “car park”, 1% about “discounts”, 1% about
James Morrison – a famous singer -, 1% about “excellent”, 1% about “cakes” , 1% about
Morrisons’s own brand products, 1% about “good reputation”, 1% even about “friends”.
In general, we can see that Morrisons has a very good image with 21% people who see the
supermarket as a synonym for fresh bread, fruits and vegetables, whereas 11% think that
Morrisons connotes cheap prices and discounts.
Page 33
Morrisons
It means that in general Morrisons means good quality discount and good value for little
money. Thus, the supermarket has a very positive image.
If we say Morrisons what comes to mind ?
%
Food
17
Good value / Prices
10
Vegetables/Fruits
9
Yellow/ Green
7
Fresh
7
Groceries
6
Supermarket
6
Local shop / Close
6
Bread
4
Nice store
3
Nothing
3
Quality
3
Choice
3
Alcohol
3
Two for one
3
Car park
1
Discounts
1
James Morrison
1
Excellent
1
Cakes
1
Friends
1
Own brand
1
Good reputation
1
k. Morrisons’s own brand products
Morrisons’s own brand products are much cheaper. This is why 52% of the people we
interviewed often buy the supermarket brand. Indeed, 48% customers, less than a half, don’t
consciously buy Morrisons’s own brand products.
Page 34
Morrisons
Do you usually buy Morrisons' own
brand products ?
Yes
48%
52%
No
Figure 28: SURVEY RESULTS'; DO YOU USUALLY BUY MORRISONS' OWN BRAND PRODUCTS?
l. Morrisons’s website
The internet is a really useful and efficient way to communicate with your customers.
That’s why Morrisons developed a website. But only 23% of Morrison’s customers have ever
been on the website which means that approximately 77% people never saw it. Most on them
go on it to see new discounts.
Have you ever been on
the website ?
23%
Yes
No
77%
Figure 29: SURVEY RESULTS'; HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON THE WEBSITE?
m. Improving Morrisons
Finally, we asked 60 Morrisons’s customers what they would change about Morrisons if
they could. Most of them, 42%, told us that they wouldn’t change anything, because they
think it is perfect the way it is. 14% told us that that would make it cheaper, 11% that they
would like more checkouts and more staff, 7% that they would like a bigger Morrisons, 5%
that the staff should be nicer, 5% that there should be more choice, 2% that sometimes it is
smelly in Morrisons, 2% that Morrisons is untidy, 2% that the Fishmonger should be better
and bigger, 2% that they could have more fair trade products, 2% that Morrisons could offer
Page 35
Morrisons
more discounts, 2% that they should create a home delivery system, 2% that the Morrisons
parking in Portobello is pretty dangerous, 2% that Morrisons should create loyalty cards, 2%
that Morrisons should open later at night.
What would you change about Morrisons if you could
?
%
Nothing
42
Cheaper
14
More staff / Checkouts
11
Bigger store
7
Staff's behaviour
5
More choice
5
Smell
2
Tidy
2
Fish
2
More fare trade products
2
Discounts
2
Home delivery
2
Parking access
2
Create a loyalty card
2
Opening hours
2
D. The latest major news about Morrisons
1. Disappointing sales for Christmas
United Kingdom’s supermarket chain “Morrisons” said its sales over Christmas 2012 were
disappointing. In fact, In December 2012, Morissons’ sales fell of 2.5% compared with the
same time last year. In his interview, the retail consultant Rahul Sharma said that "This
reflects both the need to improve our promotional innovation and the communication of our
Page 36
Morrisons
points of difference... and the accelerating importance of other channels, such as online and
convenience, which Morrisons has only recently entered."
Furthermore, you can find everything in Morrisons’ stores and Rahul think that people might
prefer go to smaller stores such as Liddl or Aldi while the Christmas period because they know
that in a huge supermarket as Morrisons, they will back home with lots of useless stuff
because there the temptation is too big.
Morrisons launched a special advert for last Christmas. This spot shows the huge amount of
things that a woman has to do while Christmas (preparing meals by cutting vegetables,…). You
can see that she is very busy and that she does everything alone.
But on thegrocer.co.uk, we can read that “Morissons has been cleared of sexist depictions of
women in its Christmas TV advertising.” In fact, the advert received 26 complaints claiming
that this advert reinforced stereotypes of men and women at home. But Morrisons proved
that it was not in order to reinforce stereotypes and they fortunately win this debate.
2. Morrisons becomes local
2013 stands as the year of expansion for the company. In fact, the firm announced its
will to buy shops in order to extend its business and open local Morrisons ’shops that are
already called M Local. Even though Morrisons had to cut off its plans of creating over 2.5
million sq. ft. shops further to the drop in the sales, Morrisons still aims at opening 900,000
sq. ft. of new stores. The retailer should open between 45 and 100 new stores this year.
Gordon Mowat, head of Morrison’s convenience claimed in an interview for the BBC News:
“The convenience market is growing, as more people shop locally and we want to be in a
position to take advantage of this.”
This sentence sums up the whole situation. As a result, Morrisons announced in February its
plans to buy the 49 stores from the film rental chain, Blockbuster, which failed. The creation
of new shops should create more than 1,000 jobs. Most of these handy stores should be
located in London and the South East.
Morrisons also bought 7 of the 187 Jessop’s shops that closed in the last months in order to
create more M Local stores.
3. Morrisons expand its market by launching clothing range
In order to face its competitors such as Asda or Sainsbury’s, Morrisons eventually decided to
sell clothes in its supermarkets. It is written in an article from the Guardian.co.uk that Tim
Bettley, the company’s non-food director said: “As a clothing man, I would have said they
should have done this a few years ago, but I certainly don't think we're too late. When I was at
Page 37
Morrisons
Peacocks, we were saying to Morrisons 'you should be doing clothing. There's an open door
because customers are asking for it'."
In fact, selling clothes in supermarkets is an interesting market as customers can pick up
clothes while doing their food shop. For instance, Asda’s clothing brand, George, has become
in twenty years the third biggest clothing retailer by volume in the country. The non-food
sales represented £1bn in January 2013 for Sainsbury’s. What’s more, clothes can carry higher
margins than food.
With its new range, Morrisons aims at gaining more and more customers. Their plans are to
bring the “Nutmeg” brand into 100 of its shops starting from the 21 st of March 2013. This
brand is going to be dedicated to children. It will offer basics and fashion clothes for
affordable prices (between £2 and £5 for each item). The clothes should be stain resistant and
hard-wearing to last as long as possible.
Tim Bettley also wishes to launch in the next year a brand for adults and to sell the clothes
online. This clothing range for adults might be supplied by his previous company namely the
Welsh fashion retailer Peacocks.
E. Conclusion
To sum up, we can say that Morrisons has a very striking strategy that definitely helped
him to become the 4th largest chain in the UK. Firstly, as we saw it in the production part,
Morrisonshas its own factories, which help him to have a tighter control on its products, to
bring down the prices but also to get fresher productsby removing the middle men. Secondly,
we analyzed Morrisons’own brand products. According to our survey, more than 52%
customers are buying one out of the five Morrisons’ brand consciously. It means that people
know that it offers brands on which they can rely.If we take a closer look at those products, it
is interesting to see that they all have been developed by professionals, such as nutritionists
or chefs.
We also studied the way Morrisons’ stores work by focusing for example on the company
culture. We learned that Morrisons aims at maintaining a familial atmosphere. Furthermore,
it follows its employees from the beginning with Morrisons’ own academy to the end of their
career at Morrisons’and even after it, with for example the Morrisons Plus Retirement Club.
But in spite of those good intentions, some employees are not satisfied: for instance, they are
disappointed by the fact they only have 10% discounts off.
We also decided to study the way they manage to offer so many discounts. We learned that
they have three main strategies to bring prices down : the first one is to cut off the middle
men, the second one is to bulk-buy which makes it less expensive for Morrisons and for the
customer. The last one is to do discounts on products which are close to their expiration date.
We also focused on the visual aspect of those discounts and we discovered that Morrisons
Page 38
Morrisons
tries to reproduce the path of an average customer in the store with red panels which attract
his curiosity: this is called a Point of Sale strategy.
By and large, its marketing strategy is built around pricing strategies, including for example
psychological aspects, products placement and Segmentation Target Positioning.Studying a
supermarket in the UK also drawn our attention to the differences between French stores
and British stores. We realised that in Scotland, medicines can be bought in stores, which is
impossible in France. In France, the use of plastic bags is more ecological friendly since it is no
more in self-service. On the other hand, checkout assistants in the UK are definitely friendlier
by offering a hand to pack. Finally, we noticed some cultural differences such as the
differences between the choice of cheese or take away food in both countries.
Concerning the relationship with the customers, we noticed that Morrisons has a very
developed website with lots of categories, such as a recipes section. Morrisons also
communicates via a You Tube channel, a Facebook and a Twitter account, an online magazine,
which you can also get in store, and has several other websites such as a fuel website or a
cellar website.
We met 60 Morrisons’ customers in order to conduct our survey, which was a real pleasure.
They helped us to understand their habits in that store. We observed that, according to the
day and the time we asked the customers, the average Morrisons’ customer is a female who is
about 55 years old, retired and who only shops for herself. This average customer comes to
Morrisons because it is close to home And thinks that the quality of the good and the services
of the staff are very good, which is why he mostly shops in Morrisons’. For most of the
Morrisons’ customers, discounts are one of the main reason why there are shopping in this
store. Through our questions, we saw that Morrisons has a very good image. Indeed, when
they hear Morrisons, most of the customers think about food, low prices and fresh food. The
average customer buys Morrisons own brand products but has never been on its website.
Finally, most of the clients wouldn’t change anything about Morrisons, because they think it is
perfect the way it is.
If we take a closer look at Morrisons’s recent news, we can see that Christmas sales have been
disappointing. In spite of this, Morrisons still tries to be closer to its customers, with the
opening of M Local stores. In addition, Morrisons wants all its clients to be able to afford any
kind of products, even clothes. This is why it has created a brand called Nutmeg which will sell
clothes between £2 and £5.For all those reasons, if we had to summarize Morrisons in 3
words, it would definitely be: Quality, Freshness and Family.
Page 39
Morrisons
F. Appendice
1. Survey
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH - SURVEY
MORRISONS
1) Sexe
F
M
2) Age
under 18 
18-25 
25-35 
55 + 
3) Situation
 student
working
4) How many people are you shopping for today?
35 – 45 
 worker
45 – 55 
 not
5) Why do you go shopping at Morrisons? What is the most important thing to you?
- close to home / work
- prices
- large choice
- others
6) What do you think about the quality of goods?
 1 poor
 2 fair
 3 good
 4 very good
 5 excellent
7)





What do you think about the staff and the customer services?
1 poor
2 fair
3 good
4 very good
5 excellent
8) Which supermarket do you usually go to shop in?
 Tesco
 Asda
 Sainsbury’s
 LIDL
 ALDI
 Morrisons
 Others
Page 40
Morrisons
9) How important do you think discounts are?
 1 not at all important
 2 not very important
 3 somewhat important
 4 very important
 5 extremely important
10) If we tell you “Morrisons” what do you think about? (2 ideas)
11) Do you usually buy Morrisons’ brand products?
12) Have you ever been on the website?
 YES
 YES
 NO
 NO
13) What would you change about Morrisons if you could?
2. Interview of Jill Nicholson – a non Morrisons’ customer
We choose to interview a non Morrisons’ customer to understand the image that the
supermarket has for the others.
If you don’t go to Morrisons, then, what is the supermarket where you mostly go
shopping?
Generally, to be honest, I go to Tesco. There are several reasons for his, one is that Tesco has
more stores than any other supermarkets, so if you are working in the center of the city, and you
want to pick up food on your way home, there is always a Tesco, so it is convenient, there is
always a Tesco very near where people work.
But Tesco is generally smaller than Morrisons?
Well, shopping on my way home to work, I go to Tesco. If I shop otherwise, I go to Asda,
because there is a big Asda near where I live. There is a Morrisons that is not too far away but
not very near. That will sound very snobbish, but Morrisons generally is located in the poorer
areas of a city, so there is no Morrisons where I live, so why would I travel so far to do my
shopping?
So you never had a specific bad experience with Morrisons?
No, to be perfectly honest, I associate Morrisons with people who do not have a lot of money,
who live in poor areas of the city … which is a dreadful thing to say!
Do you know if you family or friends have the same negative image of Morrisons as you?
Oh, my husband certainly! He is way more snobbish than I am. Well, he doesn’t go shopping
anyway, very rarely. But we are still going to Tesco, because our son works in Tesco, we do
employ him, in a way!
Page 41
Morrisons
Do you think that for some people, saying that they are shopping in Morrisons is a
shame?
I think it might be, yes, it might be in certain middle class circles, it wouldn’t be part of a good
self image.
What do you think about the idea of creating M Local stores?
It is probably a good idea, because people who are very short of time often like to shop on their
way home to work, instead of having to go out on Saturday or in the evening to go shopping. I
think it is a very good idea. I think if Morrisons can get people to go inside its stores, I think it
probably gets far more customers.
And would you go to M Local stores, then?
If it were convenient, if it were located in the city centre, yes. It would be good for Tesco to
have competition, because they have so many stores. They actually don’t have to try very hard
to make discounts or even to provide a good range of products, because people would shop
there anyway, because it is the best alternative. So I think it is a very good idea, it is strategic,
you know, to take out Tesco. A lot of people don’t like to shop at Tesco, so I think that if there
is an alternative…
Do you often have some advertising for Morrisons at home?
No never, very rarely. Maybe because there is no Morrisons close to the place where I live, they
wouldn’t target people like me. But there was something in the newspapers about Morrisons
this week end, about the fact that for the moment they don’t sell online. I think that to target
more people, they may need to start selling online.
Do you know that Morrisons is going to sell clothes? Do you think it is a good idea?
I think it will be very good for the Morrisons shoppers, the same way that you can buy clothes
in Asda, or the others major supermarkets.
So thank you very much, Jill, for having answer to our questions!
Well, you are welcome! But your project makes me think very different about Morrisons, for
example with the fact that it was the only supermarket not caught up in the big horse meat
scandal, it was quite impressive. And the fact that they own their own abattoirs, this is actually
very good, very close to the supply chain. I have a more positive image about Morrisons now!
3. Interview of a sales assistant working at Morrisons’
Student: How long have you been working at Morrisons?
Sales Assistant: Five years.
And do you have a special qualification for this job?
No.
What are the main advantages of working at Morrisons?
I like to meet the customers. I like to work with them. They are friendly. The staff is friendly.
Good communication, so, I’m quite happy with that.
So you’ve got good relationships with the customers?
Yes, I’ve got a good relationship with them. Some of them are coming every week, so we have
a good relationship. When something’s missing, they come and ask, this is what I like.
Do you have some advantages concerning the prices since you work here? Do you have
special discounts as an employee?
Page 42
Morrisons
Yes, we get 10% discount.
Each time you buy something?
Yes, 10%, we also have 15% for Christmas.
Do you eat at the cafeteria?
No, we have a staff canteen. We get it cheaper.
What are the disadvantages of working here?
Well, I can’t think about anything.
Is there something you would change about your job?
More money! (Laughter) No, well, I’m quite happy, I like the customers, what could I change
…err?
In France we have what we call a “13th month”. Do you have it as well? It’s a sort of
bonus.
Yes, we’ve got that. At the end of March, we’ve got a bonus from the company.
Are you stressed; do you have a lot of managers checking on you?
No I’m ok. I work on my own. I do the cakes and the corner. I can take my breaks when I want,
I don’t have to ask for permission.
Is it your only job?
Yes.
Is this the case for most of the people working here?
Yes, I think so, unless it’s part time.
How many hours a week do you work?
39 hours.
Do you go shopping at Morrisons?
Yes. Well, sometimes at Asda. Because I live near from it.
How is your relationship with your colleagues?
I’m fine with everybody.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
On a cruise, with a nice young man. (Laughter) No, I probably will still be here. I’m 53.
So you’re responsible for your own department? You aren’t doing the same thing all day
long?
Do you have something else to do than restock the shelves?
I’m doing other things. I’m counting the products. I’m in charge with the promotions. I have to
put the etiquette. The cakes on the corner as well. I have to put the etiquettes there too. But
there’s a lot more involved. A lot of people think I’m just putting the bread on the shelves.
Some people call me the “Bread Lady”. This is what I do, but there’s a lot more than that.
So some customers call you the Bread Lady?
Yes.
You must have very good relationship with them then!
Yes, very good! Some of them even give me Christmas cards.
Page 43

Morrisons - DoYouBuzz

Transcription

Similar documents

Morrisons superMarket

Carphone`s staff support tool given the thumbs-up

Meopham Community Academy

High Voltage Maintenance

Head Teacher`s Welcome - Hipperholme Grammar School

Chicken noodle soup

Your vouchers

Historical Summary

Brochure PDF

Different - Morrisons