Morrisons has introduced 10 of its entry-level Savers products across its convenience estate, as it responds to demands for supermarkets to make cheaper products more accessible for shoppers battling the cost of living crisis.
The supermarket giant said the items, including washing-up liquid, toilet rolls and sausages, are now available in more than 500 Morrisons Daily stores and confirmed plans to add a further 30 products in the next few weeks. These will include eggs, ham, juice, butter, cheese and mince.
Morrisons said it had also cut the price of 18 high-volume products such as milk, bread and tomatoes in its convenience stores.
It said the moves were part of a wider effort to focus on value across its convenience operations following the acquisition of the collapsed McColl’s chain in May last year. Having converted around 500 former McColl’s stores to the Morrisons Daily format, the retailer said in-store prices had been reduced by around 12% as the stores adopted the full Morrisons convenience range.
“Inflation is stubbornly high and the cost of living is showing no signs of reducing. Speaking plainly, the reason that convenience stores don’t stock entry price point products is because they make very little, if any, money and do not fit with the significantly higher cost structure of convenience stores.” admitted Morrisons CEO David Potts.
“But customers – especially those living in areas without easy access to a supermarket – have told us how much they would appreciate it at this difficult time and so we are doing it.
“Our Savers range is incredibly popular in our supermarkets and offers outstanding value and good quality. Recent research has shown Savers is the UK’s fastest growing value range and we are proud to be the first major UK supermarket to introduce some key products from the range into convenience stores all over the country.
“The 500 stores that will stock the range are mostly wholly-owned Morrisons stores but a number of franchise partners have kindly agreed to stock Savers products. I want to thank those partners for agreeing to this move and to acknowledge that they are doing so because they want to play their full part in helping people through the cost of living crisis.”
Potts first revealed plans to roll out Savers in convenience stores last month while being questioned by MPs on the cross-party Business & Trade Committee, who grilled executives from the major retailers on what they were doing to tackle food inflation.
The committee demanded to know what supermarkets were doing to cater for lower-income shoppers who relied more heavily on c-stores because of lack of transport.
Potts’ move also follows a report by consumer group Which?, that in April showed only a “tiny fraction” of budget ranges were being carried in stores across the big four.
Morrisons has recently relaunched its Savers range and added 56 new lines and redesigned its packaging. The range now comprises a total of 217 products.
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