Household Bills
Morrisons to stock budget lines in convenience stores
Guest Author:
Emma LunnUp to 40 cheaper ‘Savers’ products including eggs, ham and butter will be available in more than 500 Morrisons Daily stores.
The products will be the same price as they are in Morrisons supermarkets. The roll-out will start with 10 products including washing-up liquid, toilet rolls and sausages followed by a further 30 products in the coming weeks. The additional items will include key essentials such as eggs, ham, juice, butter, cheese and mince.
Morrisons is also cutting the price of 18 high-volume products in its Morrisons Daily stores including both two- and four-pint milk, bread and tomatoes.
The move will see the price of four-pint milk fall from £1.65 to £1.55 and a six-pack of tomatoes from £1.20 to £1.
Morrisons acquired the McColl’s convenience business from administration in May 2022 and has so far converted about 500 shops into Morrisons Daily stores.
The supermarket claims that on conversion, the instore prices have been reduced by around 12% as the stores adopt the full Morrisons convenience range.
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David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, said: “Inflation is stubbornly high and the cost of living is showing no signs of reducing. Speaking plainly, the reason that convenience stores don’t stock entry price point products is because they make very little, if any, money and do not fit with the significantly higher cost structure of convenience stores. But customers – especially those living in areas without easy access to a supermarket – have told us how much they would appreciate it at this difficult time and so we are doing it.
“Our Savers range is incredibly popular in our supermarkets and offers outstanding value and good quality. Recent research has shown that Savers is the UK’s fastest growing value range and we are proud to be the first major UK supermarket to introduce some key products from the range into convenience stores all over the country.
“The 500 stores that will stock the range are mostly wholly-owned Morrisons stores but a number of franchise partners have kindly agreed to stock Savers products. I want to thank those partners for agreeing to this move and to acknowledge that they are doing so because they want to play their full part in helping people through the cost-of-living crisis.”
Morrisons recently relaunched its Savers range and added 56 new lines. A total of 217 products are now included in the Morrisons Savers range including essentials like bread and rice, and frozen food such as chicken fillets and mince.
‘Other supermarkets should follow this example’
Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy, said: “Which? has been campaigning for supermarkets to stock budget ranges in small stores as we know this could make a big difference to people who have to rely on them and who are struggling to put food on the table.
“Morrisons deserves praise as the first big supermarket to show there is no barrier to putting budget ranges on the shelves of all stores for the same price. We look forward to seeing the full range that Morrisons will be offering that should ensure households on tight budgets can cook a range of healthy meals.
“Other supermarkets should follow this example by stocking a range of budget lines that support a healthy diet across branches, including smaller convenience stores – with a particular focus on areas where people are really struggling with the cost of living. All supermarkets should also make pricing more transparent – including on promotions and loyalty card offers – so shoppers can easily find the best value products.”