Morrisons sales dip in fragile market
Morrisons has reported a drop in its third quarter sales as high levels of discounting in the supermarket industry and fragile consumer confidence impacted trade.
In the 13 weeks ending 28 October, total sales excluding fuel were down by 0.4% (up 0.2% including fuel) while like-for-like sales fell by 2.1% (down 1.3% including fuel).
In a statement the supermarket said: “With consumer confidence still fragile and high levels of promotional activity a persistent feature of the market, the trading environment has remained challenging through the period and sales were lower than anticipated.”
During the quarter, Morrisons introduced its fresh food format to a further 35 stores which means it is on track to extend the format to a total of 100 stores by the end of the financial year. It also made good progress with its own brand relaunch and the introduction of its new online wine operation.
Morrisons said: “Whilst we are encouraged by the progress of these strategic initiatives we recognise the ongoing importance of improving our performance, particularly in the communication of Morrisons key points of difference to our customers and in improving the effectiveness of our promotional activity. We have put in place a number of measures to enable us to achieve this.”
The supermarket added that it expects the market to be “challenging” for the remainder of the year but that its full year financial performance will be broadly in line with expectations.
