Industry-beating availability helped Morrisons scoop a top prize in The Grocer Gold Awards, says Julian Hunt
For the second year running Morrisons has scooped our award for being the best retailer in the business when it comes to availability.
This important industry award is based on the results of The Grocer 33 shopping survey which shows that that Morrisons had a near-perfect 99% availability record over the past 12 months. Put another way, in 50 store visits over the course of the year, the chain delivered 36 full baskets and our shoppers spotted just 16 out of stocks.
In all, The Grocer 33 shoppers have made 390 store visits since last June and the industry overall performance wasn’t too bad - with availability running at 97% on average (although the worst performing chains were regularly coming in at just 94%).
Richard Hull, of management consultant Capgemini, says Morrisons’ performance is exceptional. He says it is due, in part, to the fact that the chain has a limited number of stores and a relatively tight catalogue of SKUs. Hull also points out that the head office works in conjunction with store staff to ensure there is enough product in the system to keep shelves fully stocked. That, too, plays a big part in its success.
Good availability is an important element in the chain’s no-nonsense approach to retailing, which resulted in a 15% rise in sales to £5.3bn in its last financial year.
When he picked up The Grocer Cup for Outstanding Business Achievement in October last year, the chain’s chairman, Sir Ken Morrison, explained why his business was so successful. “We concentrate heavily on the things that we do rather well,” he said at the time. “We plough our own furrow and don’t follow the rest of the industry.”
That approach has also ensured that Morrisons was a strong performer in the other elements of The Grocer 33 survey. Its stores were rated among the best by our shoppers - Morrisons was one of those in the running for our best for service title this year.
The chain also competed well on price with Asda throughout the year and in the fourth quarter of our survey was only 17p or 0.5% more expensive on average than its arch rival.
Morrisons’ record in the past year is all the more impressive when you remember that it was achieved against the backdrop of the protracted battle to acquire Safeway. And when they completed the acquisition, Sir Ken and his team wasted no time changing things - their price cuts slashed the price of our Safeway basket by almost 14% towards the end of March.
For the second year running Morrisons has scooped our award for being the best retailer in the business when it comes to availability.
This important industry award is based on the results of The Grocer 33 shopping survey which shows that that Morrisons had a near-perfect 99% availability record over the past 12 months. Put another way, in 50 store visits over the course of the year, the chain delivered 36 full baskets and our shoppers spotted just 16 out of stocks.
In all, The Grocer 33 shoppers have made 390 store visits since last June and the industry overall performance wasn’t too bad - with availability running at 97% on average (although the worst performing chains were regularly coming in at just 94%).
Richard Hull, of management consultant Capgemini, says Morrisons’ performance is exceptional. He says it is due, in part, to the fact that the chain has a limited number of stores and a relatively tight catalogue of SKUs. Hull also points out that the head office works in conjunction with store staff to ensure there is enough product in the system to keep shelves fully stocked. That, too, plays a big part in its success.
Good availability is an important element in the chain’s no-nonsense approach to retailing, which resulted in a 15% rise in sales to £5.3bn in its last financial year.
When he picked up The Grocer Cup for Outstanding Business Achievement in October last year, the chain’s chairman, Sir Ken Morrison, explained why his business was so successful. “We concentrate heavily on the things that we do rather well,” he said at the time. “We plough our own furrow and don’t follow the rest of the industry.”
That approach has also ensured that Morrisons was a strong performer in the other elements of The Grocer 33 survey. Its stores were rated among the best by our shoppers - Morrisons was one of those in the running for our best for service title this year.
The chain also competed well on price with Asda throughout the year and in the fourth quarter of our survey was only 17p or 0.5% more expensive on average than its arch rival.
Morrisons’ record in the past year is all the more impressive when you remember that it was achieved against the backdrop of the protracted battle to acquire Safeway. And when they completed the acquisition, Sir Ken and his team wasted no time changing things - their price cuts slashed the price of our Safeway basket by almost 14% towards the end of March.
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