cwathen wrote:I still don't get why Morrisons are disposing of the most valuable asset they have - the Safeway brand name. Whether or not they like it, Safeway has more brand recognition than Morrisons ever will. Whatever they might do internally, retaining Safeway-branded stores (along with the Mega Store et al sub-brands which Safeway have established so well), especially in the south where Morrisons is all but unheard of, would have given them a much easier ride in their task of improving the performance of those stores.
And since Morrisons design is so retro, introducing it in an area where it is unknown would probably get it categorised in the same camp as Lidl's and Aldi, rather than with Tesco and Sainsburys.
Just as it would be commercial suicide to rename Asda to Walmart UK, I don't think Morrisons are going to do themselves any favours by ditching the Safeway brand.
I see where you're coming from with what you are saying, obviously most Southerners won't have a clue of what Morrisons is and when they see the 'M' the first guess is that it looks downmarket, like Lidl or Aldi, but you cannot blame them. Most of the original Morrisons stores are very modern these days, they did use to look outdated, but they have realised that in some areas they are a serious competitor (AFAIK Morrisons is more popular than Tesco in Warrington), even by changing their font it looks better. Inside it is a very good store, but the brand isn't brilliant.
Northerners know what they're getting with Morrisons, but Southerner's won't have a clue and would probably associate it with more of a down market look. I think they're right in one way to bring in the Morrisons brand, I think it should be established that Safeway is part of Morrisons and so many thousand prices have been lowered, even sharing some of the same own products I don't see anything wrong with, but getting rid of Safeway altogether is a big mistake, yes they own them, but they're getting rid of a strong brand as you said, if anything it could be a financial failure.
I think they should just stick to something like 'Safeway, a part of WM Morrisons PLC' or whatever, but keeping Safeway would work.
I can also understand why they want to get Morrisons established across the UK, but they should have a change before they're doing what they're doing.
It also said in the magazine that 50 stores will be rebranded and changed in the coming months, it will be done at apprroximately 3 a week!
There's also a list of Morrisons and Safeway stores that will be sold off to Waitrose or Sainsburys and its quite alot!
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