Morrisons has bought online baby goods retailer Kiddicare in a £70m deal which confirms its long-awaited move into online retailing .
The supermarket chain said Kiddicare’s technology platform and state-of-the-art distribution centre will be used to develop its own non-food business, with the first products due to launch next year.
Morrisons’ chief executive Dalton Philips said: “This acquisition brings not only a respected, successful and fast growing specialist retailer into the Morrisons group but also a robust, scalable and highly advanced technology platform around which we can begin to build our e-commerce offer.”
The move is part of a wider drive by Philips to explore new avenues of growth, including online trading, more non-food lines and a convenience store format.
Kiddicare was founded in 1974 by Neville and Marilyn Wright. The company has grown significantly over the past three years and last year generated turnover of £37.5 million.
The retailer, which also operates the largest baby nursery equipment retail store in Europe, will continue to trade separately as kiddicare.com, led by Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright, children of the founders.
Morrisons added that the pair’s “knowledge and expertise will be invaluable” in the structure of its online business.”
