Posts Tagged ‘Morrisons’
Morrison’s Promises To Compete Into Bankruptcy
This is something of a hostage to fortune: Morrison’s has promised to match prices with the other supermarkets in the UK. OK, they often do that against Waitrose (which is generally more expensive anyway), Sainsbury’s and the like but now, in a piece of majestic bravery, they’re going to try to go head to head with Aldi and Lil. And it’s really not certain that this is going to work out well either. For there’s a very large and very basic problem here:
Morrisons has announced a new price match system, which is set to exacerbate Britain’s brutal supermarket war.
The fourth biggest grocery chain said that in addition to price matching Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, it would now do the same with discounters Aldi and Lidl.
The new price comparison and points system will see users automatically refunded card points, along with extra points for selected products and fuel.
Here’s what the problem is. The actual price a supermarket pays for something isn’t really what determines what it then tries to charge you for it. Sure, it has an influence and we’ll get to that in just a moment. But it’s all the other costs associated that do make up the total price. And when you think about it a supermarket is really just a logistics chain. That’s their real special sauce: being able to run the lorries and the warehouses that get everything into the stores so they can be sold but not too much so that the store overflows with things unsold. And that is also a very expensive part of their system.
And that’s the secret sauce at Aldi and Lidl. They typically carry only one brand of anything. One type of smoked Swiss cheese, say, instead of the offerings from several or many different manufacturers. And that makes all that logistics stuff a great deal cheaper.
There’s also that bit we’re just getting to. Byt stocking, in general, only one of anything this means that they’re buying in higher volume from that one producer. That means they get better prices.
The general consensus is that a full service (or full range) supermarket simply cannot compete directly on price with that Aldi/Lidl (and in Germany there’s several others as well, Penny Market, Billa and so on) strategy. But that’s exactly what Morrison’s has just committed itself to. It’s going to be, in a business sense, a bloody and bitter war. And not one that Morrison’s is necessarily going to win.
Calculator testing: Morrisons v WHSmith v Canon – an unpacking masterclass
HOW to unpack a Morrison’s calculator; and how it stacks up against a WHSmith calculator and a calculator from Canon, This is not an unboxing video. This is an unpacking masterclass:
Spotter: Brady Haran
Posted: 8th, October 2013 | In: Technology, The Consumer | Comment
Morrisons letter to worker suspended for wearing Poppy and Help for Heroes wristband
THIS is the letter Morrisons supermarket sent to one of its staff who wore a Poppy and Help for Heroes wristband.
Adam Austin worked at a Morrisons in Portsmouth, Hampshire.
A Morrisons spokesman explained:
“It’s all about food hygiene. The rules are the same in a restaurant kitchen as they are in a supermarket food preparation area. We have a dress code and the dress code is primarily around the health and safety of the staff member and the members of the public…
“As a company we encourage store colleagues to show their support for the Royal British Legion by wearing poppies in October and November. We currently ask that colleagues adhere to a company dress code which precludes bracelets and pins. However, we have reviewed these guidelines and colleagues working in non-fresh food preparation areas will now be permitted to wear a registered charity wristband.”
Is a Poppy only for autumn? Mr Austin says he was wearing the Poppy as a tribute to Lee Rigby, the soldier murdered in Woolwich. If the Poppy is a sign of remembrance for fallen soldiers, why can’t it be worn all year round? Wars don’t stop for summer.
But is the Poppy also a political statement? Would Mr Austin be allowed to wear a Poppy in Morrisons Barack Street, Glasgow, store on the day Celtic were playing Rangers at home? To many Celtic fans the Poppy is a symbol of Britain’s imperialist wars. For them it is a symbol of death not sacrifice. And then there’s that enforced two-minute’s silence…
If the Poppy is a symbol of the fallen and of freedom, banning it makes Morrisons look bad. But the the Poppy is also a political symbol. It can be worn to show support for our armed forces and wars being fought. And that will not be to everyone’s taste.
Morrisons error was in not letting its staff be free to make their own decisions.
FAIL: Supermarket’s Educational Toys Advertise Stupidity
ON sale in Morrisons, in Dukinfield, the educational toys with the wrong spellings:
Mrs Toulson said: “I took the bricks to the manager. They are very much presented as educational toys and I told him that they simply didn’t do their job if the spelling on them was wrong.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 5th, May 2009 | In: Money, Photojournalism | Comment
