Evaluation of Strenghts and Weaknesses of Morrison Supermarkets

Introduction

Wm Morrison is one of the most popular retailers in UK and it offers a great price and quality of food. For me, as a student and an athlete always looking for fresh, healthy food at good prices it is on of the best options to choose. That is why I have chosen this company to evaluate. Also, I will be able to find some new information about Wm Morrison, which will be useful for me as a customer.

The essay includes information about background, current strategy, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and prospects.

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Wm Morrison was founded in 1899 by William Morrison, an egg and butter merchant. Now, it is one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK, offering a vide range of goods including other brands and own label products. The company is headquartered in Bradford, the UK and employs about 124,530 people. And it has assuranced to create about 5000 jobs this year. It operates over 382 stores and 287 petrol stations all over UK. With such a growth Morrison became a member of the "Big Four" grocery retailers.

Current strategy

Wm Morrison has a vision called ‘Food Specialist for Everyone’. It has three different brand values: Fresh, Value and Service. Those three values should give them flexibility to react to market changes and customer tendencies.

Brand values:

• Fresh.  The Company’s aim is to prepare more freshly food than any other retailer. That’s why they have more staff preparing food than others. The company is strong by having their own factories, production facilities and distribution network. With these facilities they can get food to stores faster so that it is always fresher.
• Value. Value is the key to the vision and is very important in the market conditions. They offer quality and freshness at a price which people like. Their offers are about saving customers money. And their prices are great value across the ranges.
• Service. Because they have their own distribution network, they can be sure that the right products are always available for our customers. The staff is well skilled so they give customers what they want – fresh food served by helpful, friendly, well-trained. people.

SWOT-analysis

Strengths

Financial performance With high revenues of  14. 5 billion, Morrison is UK's fourth largest food retailer. The company operates 382 stores and serves 10 million customers every week. According to TNS market research, it has a market share of 12. 3 % in the grocery market. Morrison has achieved numerous of awards in 2008, including "Retailer of the Year", the "Grocer of the Year" and many others.

It develops the brand image of the company and provides a competitive lead. Vertically integrated operations Morrison is unique food retailer because it is the only one which owns and runs fresh food making and processing abilities. This company has 12 manufacturing places in the UK and a vide transport park. This is how the company provides economies of scale at a high level and is solid in its operations.

Focus on conscious consumers. In response to the recession Morrison has to offer something attractive to their customers. That is why company rolled out offers such as family meal deals, 2 for 1 offer on party foods and many others. With such a strategy Morrison can drive sales in a weak economic environment.

Weaknesses

Lack of taking part in online shopping Online shopping is growing every year in the UK. With such a high speed of growing online shopping, supermarkets start their online sales channels to increase the revenues. ASDA, Tesco and Sainsbury in the UK have started their channels in the online shopping. However, Morrison has not started this trend which could limit growth opportunities.

Opportunities

Optimization plan Morrison started an optimization plan by 2007 to develop operations by FY2010. As a part of optimization plan, the company completed the re-branding of all its stores and over 3,000 own-brand Morrison products received new packaging. One part has been completed, to re–brand all stores and over 3,000 own-brand Morrison products have new packaging. The Company also installed self-scan checkouts over half stores.

Successful optimization plan could develop market share, brand value and success for the company. Growth in private brand markets The private brand market is about a strong growth in sales and is expected to reach about  52 billion by 2011. These products have high margin potential.  Morrison offers 18,000 product lines in a typical store, 32% of which are own-brand labels. The growth in private label products could be a major opportunity for the company and could increase its success ositive attitude for healthy foods Natural and organic food products sector is one of the fastest growing categories in food selling.

Morrison offers a range of organic products, through its own label "Organic", including eggs, cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, tea bags and muesli. The growing market for organic products could largely increase revenues. Prospects Recessionary climate Like most economies, the UK is now on recession, as well. Because of recession, unemployment is increasing and consumers have to be more cautious of spending.

They put a lot of attention on a fresh and healthy food which becomes more popular between consumers. With a strategy like this, they can stand strong between top 4 retailers in the UK. However, Morrison is not interested in online shopping, which according to the statistics will increase very fast in the next few years. What is more, in such difficult economic times consumers are eating out less and looking for cheaper forms of entertainment. It will be tough to keep high revenues facing recession and intense competition from other supermarkets.

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