Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have been doing it for years, but now Morrisons is about to catch up and offer an online food ordering service. But in business, isn’t it better to be a first mover, rather than play catch up? To get a piece of the online pie, Morrisons is going to have to offer something unique or risk being left out of the market.
Morrisons is currently the fourth biggest supermarket in Britain. This is rather impressive considering that they have only recently started opening local stores and have now decided to offer an online shopping experience as well.
Speaking of the move to online shopping, Dalton Philips, Chief Executive of Morrisons said: “(The) announcement that we are launching an online food offer in 2014 is another important step in Morrisons strategy of being ‘Different and Better than Ever’.
“We may be a late entrant to the online food market but we have learnt from our involvement with Kiddicare and Fresh Direct.
“We have long been a leader in fresh food and our craft skills and vertical integration really set us apart from the competition. Ensuring that these points of difference translate into our online food offer will be a priority.”
The food giant announced the move after the company recorded a drop in pre-tax profits of 7.2 per cent, which was its first drop in six years. The online shopping feature is expected to be up and running by early next year.
The food retailer is also expanding its “M Local” stores after acquiring some HMV and Blockbuster commercial properties.
Dalton added: “We are ready to accelerate the development of our multi-channel presence and our convenience operation is gaining real momentum acquiring over 60 new sites in recent weeks alone.
“We are therefore increasing our target for store openings in the coming year by 40% and now plan to have 100 stores trading by the end of the year.”
Do you think it is a little too late for Morrisons to play catch up to the other big three retail chains? Or do you think it is never too late to enter the online market?
Previous Post
Gym Contracts to be Made Easier to Cancel
