Yet another Morrisons thread

Martin Phillp
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Since my local store had a recent refurb, promotional stock seems to be in stock for most of the time now. That might be down to store layout where customers can't find the goods so easily, yet it's a visible improvement.

Even the self-checkout supervisor was nice to me instead of just walking like a zombie to correct yet another error.
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nwtv2003
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WillPS wrote:I'm disappointed to see Dalton Philips going. He has always struck me as having the right ideas, and it certainly doesn't reflect well that the former board, who made a huge catalogue of errors when integrating Safeway, have been harping on about how everything he's done is wrong. It isn't his fault he inherited a chain with no convenience stores, no proper stock management/ordering system, no online presence and stores which hadn't got over the 90s trend of having fake storefronts.

I've long harped on about the many opportunities Sir Ken wasted through sheer arrogance with the Safeway takeover; but I think every passing year for Morrisons highlights what a colossal fuck up it really was.
Speaking as en ex-employee for Morrisons, I do agree with you. However Dalton was heavily responsible for serious cutting back on hours in stores to the bare minimum and there was little to no recruitment, which effectively meant seeing no stock for promotional items and gaps in shelves were becoming serious commonplace. When I started in there in 2004 if they didn't have the product in question in stock it was the practice to fill the gap with the product next to it or with a similar one, at all times we were told that gaps were unacceptable, something I do agree with. The hours were cut back mainly to fund Locals and Dot com, and as a result of this the stores suffered.

As well he also got a lot of stick for the 'Store of the Future' concept, again good idea, when they were getting put in (the store I worked at had the refresh in 2012) it all looked very smart and slick, but this was at great expense to the company, rumour was the costs refitting stores was around £1.5M per store. As well I don't know what mindset Dalton was going through with the expansion of SOTF because it was during a recession and people often complaining as a result of this Morrisons put up their prices (quite a few people told me this) which basically causes them to shop elsewhere.

But aside that I agree with you, although Dalton had some bizarre visions he drove the company in the right direction. For online and Locals he was only doing what people wanted Morrisons to do. As far as I'm aware (I still speak to former colleagues) the ordering is still done manually by tablet computer, and for fresh they only count the stock, the in-store staff don't order the stock for that department.

Although Sir Ken built the chain up from scratch he had certainly outstayed his welcome after the Safeway takeover, Morrisons could have learnt so much from Safeway and the chain could have been so much stronger today, rather than destroying a chain, going back 30 years and then building it up from scratch. It was a pathetic attitude they took to eradicate Safeway within 18 months of the takeover, they should have kept 'Safeway; now part of the Morrisons family' tagline for a bit longer, so at least they could have decided what to do long term, and not turn all of Safeway's shops into Northern supermarkets, I like the Pie Shop/Oven Fresh counter, but I don't think Joe Southerner in London could give a damn about being a hot pie at Morrisons.

I can't comment on how Safeway's were simply because Warrington never had one and I think I only ever went in one once, and from what everyone told me they were ahead of their time really.
steve
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WillPS
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nwtv2003 wrote: I can't comment on how Safeway's were simply because Warrington never had one and I think I only ever went in one once, and from what everyone told me they were ahead of their time really.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/66435887@ ... 6043035960 - check this out. Granted this format was only in a dozen or so stores before Morrisons got involved, but you get the idea. Looks lush even now.
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Philip
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WillPS wrote:
nwtv2003 wrote: I can't comment on how Safeway's were simply because Warrington never had one and I think I only ever went in one once, and from what everyone told me they were ahead of their time really.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/66435887@ ... 6043035960 - check this out. Granted this format was only in a dozen or so stores before Morrisons got involved, but you get the idea. Looks lush even now.
Wow. The shelving seems so... symmetrical. Not sure how well those wood style DVD/CD displays would have aged, but it really does look quite nice. I don't know if it's just the camera but the lighting seems a lot less harsh than other supermarkets were/are.
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WillPS
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To think it all lasted barely a year before it was all ripped out in favour of that god-awful Market Street.
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scottishtv
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There was an interview in The Sunday Times yesterday with new chairman Andrew Higginson:

It will take me five years to put Morrisons back to rights
nwtv2003
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I'm rather surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet, but surprised no one is at the axing of the misting machines put in at great expense...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... hines.html
steve
DJDave
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Oh dear they say their going "Back to Basics" hang on was it not the problem before hand that Morrisons was much more dated then safeway and they mucked everything up?
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rdobbie
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nwtv2003 wrote:I'm rather surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet, but surprised no one is at the axing of the misting machines put in at great expense...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... hines.html
The next logical step will surely be to axe the exotic produce lines underneath the misters - eddo, cassava, kohlrabi, etc. - which I'm convinced that nobody actually buys. The whole concept of the mister counter was just to create some front-of-house theatre. The trouble is, the wow factor wears off after you've seen it a dozen times, when it starts to look increasingly like the vanity project of an interior design consultancy.

It's a shame they didn't instead go for a gimmick/USP which not only looks good but smells good, and delivers a product with mass appeal - like the sorely missed Safeway hot pizza oven, which Morrisons decided to eradicate in 2004.

On another note, I've now been using my Match & More card for 3-4 months and I estimate I've spent about £300 on it, yet I've not accrued one single point. I feel this is due to the deliberately convoluted and rigged methodology behind the "price match guarantee" which acts as the feeder for the loyalty points.

I feel that if a company is going to harvest data about my shopping then I want something in return for it. So my card is going to be mothballed unless or until Morrisons decide it's going to be a quid pro quo arrangement. I don't know if my experience with the card is representative of the wider picture, but if it is then I suspect many customers will also be feeling insulted by the lack of points they've received.
Martin Phillp
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rdobbie wrote:
nwtv2003 wrote:
On another note, I've now been using my Match & More card for 3-4 months and I estimate I've spent about £300 on it, yet I've not accrued one single point. I feel this is due to the deliberately convoluted and rigged methodology behind the "price match guarantee" which acts as the feeder for the loyalty points.
I've had one £5 voucher already based on Match points alone. However there are shops where I've spend less than a tenner and received 300-500 points, where more expensive shops have accumulated nothing.

None of the 'More' points products are on my nornal shop, nor have been a great way of getting me to spend more.
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Nick Harvey
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Our main shop is Tesco and we only use Morrisons for little top-ups, yet we've got a £10 voucher coming the next time we go in.

I enquired of 'er indoors as to whether we'd got anything to come and we then realised we'd got ourselves set to "don't issue vouchers, just pile up the points". We've changed it to "give us the vouchers as we earn them" and that's when it said there's a £10 voucher available next time we shop.
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