Morrisons today said its online grocery delivery service was on schedule to launch in January and that by the end of the year it would cover more than 50% of UK homes.
The supermarket’s management will hope that the online grocery service can help reverse continuing falling sales. In the third quarter total store sales grew by 1% in the quarter to November 3, an interim management statement revealed today, but like-for-like sales fell by 2.4% in the period. Morrisons put the fall down to its “low exposure to the sector’s key growth areas of convenience and online,” which, it said, “continues to impact the sales performance of the group.|
Today Morrisons said ecommerce food deliveries would start in Warwickshire in January, from the Dordon fulfillment centre, and then extend to Yorkshire via a Leeds delivery spoke.
Chief executive Dalton Philips said: “We continue to grow our sales in this tough market whilst making great progress on our strategy to be a multichannel retailer. I said at the outset that our online offer would be unmistakably Morrisons and I’m very confident that the service we unveil in January will live up to that promise.
“Many of our customers will be able to experience our distinctive online food service early in the new year and we expect to be able to serve 50% of UK homes by the end of the year.”
Ecommerce is part of a strategy that also includes the expansion of convenience stores and today Morrisons said that it was on track to have 100 M local stores open by the end of this year, with a further 100 planned for the 2014/15 financial year.
