The boss of Morrisons has escalated the supermarket’s price war with Aldi and Lidl to win back customers.
Morrisons lost its status as Britain’s fourth biggest supermarket almost two years ago as shoppers switched to German discounters.
Last month, new CEO Rami Baitieh pledged to tempt disillusioned consumers, admitting there was “work to be done.”
The supermarket will reduce the cost of basic products – from cornflakes to baby wipes – to match Aldi and Lidl.
The grocer will compare the prices of hundreds of products with those of its rivals twice a week and lower them if necessary.
Back to basics: Morrisons will cut the cost of staples from cornflakes to baby wipes to match Aldi and Lidl
The largest British supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda) already operate their own price matching programmes.
Baitieh, who replaced David Potts in November, hopes to steer the beleaguered business toward better fortunes. The latest industry data from Kantar shows Morrisons has a market share of 8.8 per cent, up from 9.1 per cent a year ago.
Rachel Eyre, customer and marketing director, said today: ‘We want to reassure our customers that we have hundreds of products at the same price or cheaper (with the quality they expect from us) than those available at Aldi and Lidl.’
Baitieh said in his first financial update at the helm: “I’m sure (customers) will come back.” He added: ‘Since the pandemic, Morrisons has not been in top shape.
‘Our market share has been falling, slowly but steadily, our comparable products (although now showing an encouraging and improving trend) have been lagging behind the rest for some time and the turnaround data has not been encouraging.
“Although we have many structural, operational and cultural strengths, we should not be satisfied with our recent performance.”
While Morrisons has been losing market share, Aldi took 9.3 per cent, up from 9.2 per cent a year earlier, and Lidl took 7.5 per cent, down from 7.1 per cent. . Tesco and Sainsbury’s were also Christmas winners.
Morrisons racked up mountains of debt (thought to total more than £6bn) when US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice bought it for £7bn in 2021. This debt has come under pressure due to rising of interest rates.