Morrisons plans Market Street shake-up under ‘Magic’ trading team restructure

Morrisons is to relaunch its Market Street proposition as part of an overhaul of the retailer’s trading team dubbed “Morrisons Magic”.

The Grocer can reveal that group trading director Andrew Staniland has kicked off a major shake-up of its trading team, which has seen a consolidation of its category buying teams with five layers of reporting being reduced to three.

Morrisons said the moves would involve the creation of more than 10 new roles, including three director roles. It is understood some category director roles will be merged into heads of trading areas, while buyers will now also be known as traders.

Morrisons has insisted it does not plan any redundancies as a result of the restructure.

The shake-up also includes the introduction of monthly virtual supplier updates.

A key part of the plans is to create the “Market Street of tomorrow”, with Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh having earmarked the concept as a point of difference to Morrisons’ rivals.

Baitiéh has told Morrisons leadership he plans to harness the power of Market Street to drive loyalty in the next phase of his turnaround.

As well as the in-store experience adding to its fresh food offer, Morrisons hopes to capitalise on its vertical supply chain strength to continue cutting prices although it is set to come under pressure, along with all retailers, from rival Asda’s promise last week to invest in prices, which has also put fresh food at the centre of cuts.

Morrisons delivered its strongest quarter for almost four years in January following what it called a year of “urgent reinvigoration and positive progress”.

Very capable trading team

Staniland, the former group buying director at Iceland, took up the role at Morrisons last month, having pulled out of a move to Asda.

“Since I stepped through the door a few weeks ago it was clear to me we have a very capable team and a golden opportunity to make some magic at Morrisons,” Staniland told The Grocer.

“I’ve been listening hard to our customers, colleagues and suppliers and learning a great deal about where we are and what we need to focus on – and the plans are coming together really well now.”

A Morrisons source added: “Andrew is bristling with new ideas and energy – it’s clear that change is going to happen across the trading team pretty quickly.”