Wm Morrison Supermarket, , trading as Morrisons , is the fourth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, and headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.
Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, the acronym Wm Morrison, begins as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford, England. Until 2004, Morrisons store locations were mainly focused in Northern England, but with Safeway's takeover that year, the company's presence increased significantly in the South of England, Wales and Scotland. In 2016 the company has 498 superstores in England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar, which is the only chain store outside the United Kingdom.
Morrisons' market share in August 2017 was 10.14%, down 0.86% from 2015 - behind Tesco (27.8%), Sainsbury (15.8%) and Asda (15.3%) but ahead aldi (7%)
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is part of the FTSE 100 Corporate Index. The Morrison family currently has about 10% of the company.
Video Morrisons
History
Establishment
The company was founded by William Morrison in 1899 who started the business as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, Bradford, England, operating under the name of Wm Morrison Limited .
His son, Ken Morrison, took over the company in 1952, aged 21 years. In 1958, Morrisons opened a small shop in downtown. This is the first department store in Bradford, the first shop to have a price on its product, and it has three checks. The company opened its first supermarket, "Victoria", in Girlington district, Bradford in 1961.
In 1967, Morrisons became a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Acquisition Safeway
In March 2004 Morrisons acquired Safeway, a British supermarket chain of 479 stores, allowing Morrisons to have a greater presence in southern England. The company purchased for  £ 3.3 billion, consisting of 1 new Morrisons share (allowing Safeway shareholders to own 40% of the shares in the enlarged group and reduce the ownership of the Morrison family to 18%), plus 60 cents in cash (paid by the divestment 52 overlapping stores) for each owned Safeway share. This acquisition quickly experienced difficulties caused in part by outgoing management of Safeway UK which changed the chain's accounting system six weeks before the transaction was completed. The result was a series of profit warnings issued by Morrisons, poor financial results and a return to the manual system.
The store conversion program from Safeway to Morrisons is the largest of its kind in British retail history, initially focusing on retained stores with rights, over 25,000 square feet (2,300 m 2 ) with separate Parks car. Within weeks, Safeway carrier bags were replaced by Morrison products and Morrisons themselves began to appear in Safeway stores.
Initially 52 stores had to forcibly divest after takeover, but this was reduced to 50 after one Safeway store in Sunderland was destroyed by fire and the lease ended at another in Leeds city center. John Lewis Partnership bought 19 to be part of the Waitrose chain, while J Sainsbury plc bought a further 14, and Tesco bought 10 in October 2004. At that time Morrisons chose not to move into the department store department (though it has since done so with Local M store his). Further to this policy decision, it was announced in late 2004 that 114 smaller 'Safeway Compact' stores would be sold to Somerfield's rival supermarket chain in a two-part deal worth a total of £ 260.2 million.
In Northern Ireland, Morrisons sells Safeway stores to Asda. This includes a store in Bangor that opened after the Morrisons takeover.
One of the largest single purchases in 2005 were five stores by Waitrose. On July 18, 2006, six other stores of the 'Rump' format were sold to Waitrose, including the former Safeway store in Hexham, Northumberland, which became the northernmost branch of Waitrose in England.
In May 2005, Morrisons announced the closing of a petrol station/station format alongside a Safeway joint venture with BP. Under the deal, the place has been split 50/50 between the two companies.
Morrisons also sells Channel Islands Safeway stores, in Guernsey and Jersey, to CI Traders where shops continue to trade as Safeway, even though the products they sell carry chain brand names like Iceland. In 2011, Sandpiper CI/CI Traders sold Channel Island Safeway stores to Waitrose and Safeway brands disappeared from the Channel Islands. On the Isle of Man, the Douglas store is sold to Shoprite and Ramsey's shop is sold to The Co-operative Food. The Gibraltar store was originally marketed for sale, but has now been changed to the 'Rump' format. In November 2006, the plan was submitted for the extension and redevelopment of the store to introduce the complete Morrison format.
In September 2005 the company announced the closure of the former Safeway depots in Kent, Bristol and Warrington with the loss of 2,500 jobs. Kent depots have since been sold to upper-class rivals, Waitrose, while Warrington sold to Iceland, a rival of frozen food. Parts of the Bristol depot have been sold to Gist. The store conversion process was completed on November 24, 2005 when Safeway's facade disappeared from the UK.
Optimization Plan
After the Safeway acquisition, Morrisons encountered a number of difficulties. The company has issued five profit warnings since the acquisition, and it is felt that the original North Morrison format does not work as well in some of the former Safeway stores in the south. To revive his new national image, Morrisons appointed the Dutchman Marc Bolland (Chief Operating Officer Heineken), as his new Chief Executive.
Pension Sir Ken Morrison
On March 13, 2008 Sir Ken Morrison retired as Chairman after 55 years in the company and was appointed Honorary President.
Purchase of Co-op and Somerfield stores
When the Cooperative Group completed the takeover of the Somerfield supermarket chain in March 2009, it was required to sell a number of stores by the Competition Commission. Morrisons bought 35 stores from the combined group, mostly trading under the Somerfield fascia. These new stores are the first of more than 100 identified by Morrisons for expansion into a small supermarket as it aims to have stores within 15 minutes of every home in the UK.
Diversified multi-channel
Follow Marc Bolland's departure to become CEO Marks & amp; Spencer in December 2009, Dalton Philips was named as a surprise move as his successor in January 2010.
In 2010, Morrisons signed an agreement with retailer Peacocks budget, the first concession store opened as part of an improvement at a retail store in Idle, Bradford. The Peacocks section was launched into other stores before launching their own childrenswear brand 'Nutmeg' to 85 stores on March 21, 2013.
The first local Morrisons M store opened in Ilkley, Yorkshire in 2011.
Throughout December 2012, the supermarket chain experienced a 2.5% decline in sales. It caused the chain to label its financial performance for the 2012 Christmas period as 'disappointing', even though the supermarket claimed it was on track to meet its target.
In May 2013, Morrisons announced a partnership with Ocado to deploy its technology systems and distribution infrastructure to help launch its own online service.
Richard Pennycook, who joined Morrisons in October 2005, was replaced as Chief Financial Officer at Morrisons in June 2013 by Trevor Strain, formerly Director of Corporate Finance.
Private equity takeover potential
In February 2014, it emerged that the younger member of the founding family of Morrison, who owned 10% of the company and who allegedly included two sons Honorary President Sir Ken Morrison, William Morrison Junior and Andrea Shelley, along with nephew Sir Ken Morrison and her husband, Susan and Nigel Pritchard, has approached a number of private equity firms about taking the company personally. They are said to be very unhappy with the company's poor financial performance, and corporate strategy undertaken by Dalton Philips.
Public criticism by the Morrison family
After a new three-year corporate strategy unveiled in March 2014 aimed at restoring sales and market share, at Morrisons Annual General Meeting in June 2014, Morrisons former chairman Sir Ken Morrison condemned Dalton Philips and his new board of directors for destroying the company he inherited from his father; Morrison commented on Philips' strategy to save supermarkets that failed from Aldi's pressure and other discount stores, stating "When I left work and started working as a hobby, I chose to raise I had about 1,000 head of bulls and, after listening to your presentation, Dalton , You have more nonsense than me. "
Morrison's comments were supported by his nephew Chris Blundell, who controls most of the remaining family shares in the supermarket, who also told the council needed to rescue, and welcomed the decision by chairman Sir Ian Gibson to leave the business next year (in June 2015) after months of pressure.
Restructure plan
In June 2014, Morrisons announced that there are plans to reduce 2,600 jobs as a result of changes in its management structure. Morrisons states that they have tested the new structure and believe that better performance is achieved through this method. However, these deductions will mainly affect department managers and supervisory positions. Morrisons will create 1,000 jobs at Morrisons M local store and 3,000 in the new supermarket. After this, Morrisons sells its distribution center in Kent to a real estate investment company worth 97.8 million. In turn, the depot in Kemsley, will soon be hired back to the supermarket chain with a 25-year agreement at a cost of renting £ 5.4 million per year.
Change of leadership again
Following a 3.1% decline in similar sales for the 2014 Christmas period, Morrisons announced the resignation of its five-year Chief Executive Dalton Philips to become effective by March 2015. In addition, Chairman Sir Ian Gibson will step down six months earlier to be replaced by former Tesco Chief Financial Officer Andrew Higginson in late January 2015. Five additional executives left the company in March 2015.
Morrisons also announced the closure of 10 small loss stores (eight Netto UK stores and two former Somerfield stores, bought under Philips leadership) in Cramlington, Accrington, Ravensthorpe, Bransholme (Hull), Telford, West Bromwich, Wallasey (Seacombe - save picture next to right), Newton le Willows, Rugby, and Crawley. In addition, six unprofitable stores will be closed, and supermarket chain launches will be slowed, as a collection of 40 sites will no longer be purchased.
On February 25, 2015, Morrisons appointed former Tesco director David Potts as its new chief executive.
In June 2015, Morrisons cut the price of 200 'everyday goods' to 33% Sales of like-to-like chain stores have fallen by 2.9% in the first three months of 2015 - after falling 2.6% in the last three months 2014. The company responded by deciding to 'simplify' its headquarters in Bradford - at a cost of 720 jobs.
In September 2015, Morrisons announced the sale of 140 M Local stores to Mike Greene and Greybull Capital, to dire-branded My Local, for £ 25 million and plan to close 11 supermarkets, at a cost of 900 jobs reported. Following this in January 2016 the Morrisons boss announced that a further 7 stores would be closed to help optimize existing assets and address the areas of poor performance.
Maps Morrisons
Financial performance
The financial results are as follows:
Current operation
In February 2016, Morrisons had 498 superstores in the UK, including those it retained after the purchase of Safeway plc. Until 2004, the Morrisons superstore was largely concentrated in the Midlands of England and Northern England, but had grown to the south, beginning with a store in Erith, Greater London, which opened in 1998.
Saving format
The traditional format of the Morrisons superstore is called Market Street . Meat near or beside a butcher's counter, a grocery store that is traditionally named Terms with a nearby cheese fridge and a rottisserie table named Fresh Oven .
Retail online
In 2012, the group launched its first retail website called "Morrisons Cellar" that sells wine from around the world.
Unlike its main competitor, Morrisons recently branched out to offer online shopping services. In May 2013, Morrisons announced a partnership with Ocado to deploy its technology systems and distribution infrastructure to help launch its own online service. Morrisons also signed an agreement with Amazon to supply products for their Prime Pantry.
By mid 2015, Morrisons is still the smallest of the big four supermarkets - with a market share of 11%, down 0.3% from 2014.
According to CACI, in 2006, Morrisons had market dominance in 10 zip code areas; (Harvard), LS (Leeds), WF (Wakefield) and HD (Huddersfield), WD (Walsall), LD (Llandrindod Wells), WS (Walsall), TS (Cleveland), TD (Hawick), BD (Bradford), HG (Harrogate).
Vertical integration
Unlike other UK supermarkets, Morrisons produce a large number of their own food products at 16 sites in the UK.
Former operations
Kiddicare
In 2011, Morrisons bought Kiddicare children retailers for £ 70 million to give them the knowledge to sell clothing and home appliances online. In 2012, 10 former Best Buy stores from Carphone Warehouse were acquired to expand Kiddicare into retail stores. In March 2014, Morrisons CEO Dalton Phillips announced the company's intention to sell Kiddicare. The company was sold to an endless private company worth  £ 2 million in July 2014, only for sale to Worldstores two months later (in September 2014) for an undisclosed amount.
FreshDirect
Morrisons purchased a 10% stake in FreshDirect New York-based online store for £ 31 million in 2011. After sending a team to New York to learn from a business ahead of the predicted launch in 2013, Morrisons initiated a home delivery initiative in January 2014. On March 2014, Morrisons CEO Dalton Phillips announces that the company has agreed to sell its stake in FreshDirect due to financial difficulties facing the company and, having established its own online shopping site, no longer required FreshDirect. The sale was completed in August 2016 for Ã, Â £ 45 million.
Supermarket
The company operates a number of small stores called "Morrisons M Local" in major venues such as Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol. These stores have a format similar to small Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local stores, but include more hot fast food such as pastries, coffee, rotisserie, porridge and salad bar. Items are stocked from nearby superstore and buyers can also order food including fresh meat and fish.
A distribution center in Feltham, West London was acquired to provide a distribution network to stores in London and Southeast where there were several superstores.
Around 70 stores opened in late 2013, driven by the purchase of 7 Jessops and 49 blockbuster stores from administrators. On February 26, 2013, more than 6 HMV stores were obtained from the administrator. Local M chains are sold to private equity groups by 2015 and renamed My Local, but enter the administration itself less than a year later.
Marketing and branding
Logos and slogans
On March 15, 2007, Morrisons announced that it would deprive its existing branding and strapline for a more modern brand image. Their lower-priced brand choice, Bettabuy , is also converted into a more modern brand called the Morrisons Value range .
This change sees the replacement of the old yellow and black logos, with 'More Reasons To Shop At Morrisons' replaced by 'Fresh Choice For You'. In 2010 it was replaced by 'Eat Fresh. Pay Less'. This was later changed again in 2013 to 'More Of What Matters'. It also involves replacing external signage, with previous Morrisons signs maintained with the new logo, as well as changes to product packaging, where sales, advertising, staff uniforms (replacing old blue bonds) and bows with which green) and distribution vehicles. The rationale behind the decision was the need for Morrisons to attract a wider national subscriber base, exploiting its expanded geographic expansion after the Safeway acquisition.
In 2016, Morrisons released the new logo and slogan 'Morrisons Makes It' to try and leverage the brand heritage, with new logos installed in all store signs and new uniforms and new look inside the store. As well as this, the capital M, as seen above other logos, was removed and instead replaced at the bottom, 'Since 1899' and above me, yellow petals. As well as this, all the letters, apart from M, all turn into lowercase.
Loyalty card
Morrisons card pricing Better matches customer spending at stores and online with Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda. If customers spend Ã, Â £ 15 or more and can pay less for their comparable shopping, Morrisons automatically gives them a point difference on their card at the checkout. For a difference of 1p in shopping expenses, the customer gets 10 Match points - and for the difference of £ 1, they get 1,000 points. The difference is calculated at checkout on national brands and their own comparable label products and fresh foods, even those on promotions elsewhere. In 2016, Matches & amp; Another loyalty card renamed the "More" loyalty card and all customers were given a new card according to the rebranding.
Product range
Morrisons store thousands of lines sold as their "Own Brand" item. These include M Savers, an economic brand that sells items ranging from food and beverages to toiletries, which is currently the fastest wholesale brand in the UK.
Distribution
In 2005, Morrisons purchased parts of the collapsed Rathbones Bakeries, which supplied Morrisons bread, for £ 15.5m.
In 2007, Morrisons opened a new Distribution Center in Swindon and announced that they had purchased a new site at Junction 23 of M5 at Bridgwater in Somerset, to be redeveloped as a fresh crop packaging facility.
In 2011 Morrisons opened a new 767,500 sq/ft distribution center in Bridgwater as part of a £ 11 million rebuilding project. The project also created 1,200 new jobs. The opening of a new distribution center means that the Swindon depot is no longer needed and closed in December 2011.
Criticism
Potentially dangerous dog food
In December 2012, a television ad campaign that showed a child giving pieces of Christmas pudding dog was criticized by the British Veterinary Association and Kennel Club. Christmas Pudding contains ingredients that can be harmful to dogs that cause concern that the behavior in clips can be copied with adverse consequences for animals. A Morrisons spokeswoman stated that they had asked the veterinarian's advice before filming, where a veterinarian was present. The advice given is that "... there will be minimal risk, if any, against dogs that have serious toxic reactions if small amounts, in relation to their weight, Christmas cake or pudding are consumed with disposables."
Inaccurate support claims for UK farmers
Following a well-publicized crash in UK milk prices, Morrisons launched a British brand labeled 'For Farmers' which promised an additional Ã, Â £ 0.23 per carton. Even the money went to a Scandinavian co-op group and only a quarter of the money went to the English farmers.
See also
- List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom
- Mainstop
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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