Morrisons has made its More Card loyalty scheme prices “the regular price” across all stores on the 100 most popular products, following major system issues which have left customers unable to access promotions and discounts.
Deals that had been available only to cardholders are now accessible to all shoppers, including the supermarket’s 10p vegetable bag deal, turkeys, spirits and champagne.
“And in addition we will give More Card customers an extra 10% off their entire shop as an apology,” a spokeswoman told The Grocer.
This morning customers reported on social media being denied loyalty discounts at the checkout. Shopper Manisha Kalyan shared an image on X of a self-checkout machine displaying an “information message” that the discounts were “unavailable at this time”.
Another user complained there were no warnings in store of the technical hitch for those paying for their shopping at self-checkout machines. They said the supermarket was “conveniently” waiting “until you are at the till with your trolley full”.
The system issues have also been affecting the Morrisons website, click & collect orders, and home deliveries.
A spokeswoman for the supermarket said it was “experiencing some system issues which are principally impacting some More Card discounts and click & collect orders”.
The supermarket was advising holders of its More Card who have Morrisons Fivers to redeem that “these will be done manually in store by colleagues”.
Click & collect customers have been told to “wait for an email to inform them that their order is ready for collection before heading to store”.
“Some home delivery orders may be arriving late today, and we will be communicating directly with those customers affected,” the spokeswoman added.
Earlier this month, Morrisons announced it was ramping up the More Card offering, with points to be earned from every purchase in supermarkets, online and c-stores.
The loyalty card scheme had offered customers the chance to build up points only on selected products in store, but after a successful trial in Wales the supermarket extended the scheme across its whole range. Morrisons relaunched the More Card in May last year promising it would bring a “radical “ overhaul of loyalty at the supermarket.
The retailer has been pushing the potential savings offered by More Card hard over the Christmas period. It also announcing at the start of the month customers would receive 50 points when they buy any Morrisons The Best product throughout December.
Its early gambit in the Christmas veg price wars – offering bags of carrots, brussels, parsnips and swede for 10p – requires shoppers to have a More Card.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers for this inconvenience,” the spokeswoman said.
Commenting on LinkedIn, industry analyst Steve Dresser, CEO of Grocery Insight, said: “It’s hard to think of a worse time for the loyalty scheme to fail as it has at Morrisons today… Of course the loyalty prices will have to be honoured somehow, but it will be very difficult for the stores to deal with everything.”
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