Morrisons are in danger and are looking into overhauling their prices as it reported an annual loss of £176 million despite a reported profit of £879 million the previous year.
Morrisons, the fourth biggest UK supermarket, are “going to lower [their] prices on a permanent basis” according to Chief Executive Dalton Philips.
He elaborated, saying that “the biggest challenge that we face is that there has been a fundamental change in how consumers view discounters. They are no longer going to them out of necessity. The perception has changed and there is a new price norm.” This shows how people are more accepting of discount stores, such as Aldi, and Morrisons needs to combat these cheaper prices.
This is in the wake of the news that Aldi and Waitrose have hit their record sales rate, and that Aldi’s year-on-year growth rate is now 33.5%, and they account for 4.3% of the market, according to the director of Kantar Worldpanel. Apparently Lidl holds 3.2% while Waitrose holds 5.0% of the market.
Morrisons were not alone with their losses, as Asda and Tesco also reported declines in share, while Sainsburys managed to hold their market share of 17.0%.
