Morrisons eyes online grocery
Morrisons CEO Dalton Philips is expected to reveal his strategy for the supermarket chain when it reveals interim results next week.
His plans are expected to include a move into online grocery, an expansion of the grocer’s non-food offer and a shift towards introducing smaller stores.
Morrisons is the only one of the “Big Four” supermarkets that doesn’t currently offer an online grocery channel and Philips’ predecessor, Marc Bolland, now CEO of Marks & Spencer, steered the chain away from it, focussing instead on the chain’s fresh food and in-store proposition.
When Philips was hired in January analysts said that by appointing someone outside the chain, Morrisons was indicating that it was looking for new direction.
Commentators suggested that Philips’ experience outside of the grocery industry at Canadian food distributor Loblaw and Irish department store group, Brown Thomas, might lead him to take the chain into areas such as non-food and online that Bolland had steered away from.
Morrisons is due to announce interim results next Thursday (9 September).
Read an in depth analysis of how Dalton Philips appointment was viewed by the industry.
