Morrisons, Britain’s fifth largest supermarket group, is emulating its larger competitors by aligning prices with those of the German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl across hundreds of comparable grocery items. This strategy aims to counteract a decline in market share.
Last month, Rami Baitieh, who previously served as the CEO of Carrefour France and assumed the role of CEO at Morrisons in November, voiced his dissatisfaction with the group’s performance. He stated his commitment to developing improvement plans.
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Since the financial crisis of 2008, the swift expansion of discounters has compelled Britain’s traditional chains to increase their investment in value offerings, aiming to safeguard their market positions.
Tesco, the leading company in the industry, along with Sainsbury’s, ranked second, attribute their Aldi price matching initiatives for halting the migration of customers to discount retailers. Together, these discounters have secured a 17% share of the UK’s grocery market.
Last month, Asda, ranked third, introduced a comparable program.
Morrisons announced that starting Monday, they would implement price matching on over 200 items with the discounters. These items include essentials like milk, corn flakes, canned tomatoes, rice, bread, beef mince, chicken fillets, bananas, and carrots.
Prices will undergo bi-weekly checks, and adjustments will be made if deemed necessary.
Since its acquisition in 2021 by U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Morrisons stands out from its primary competitors due to its integrated production operations. Approximately half of the fresh food it offers is produced in-house.
Baitieh has announced plans to provide a strategy update in March.
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