6
Our strategy
overview
Positioning
Morrisons has three distinct brand values
that strengthen our vision. The brand
values give us the flexibility to react to
market changes and consumer trends.
Fresh
Value
Service
Keeping things simple: Our vision to be the
‘Food Specialist for Everyone’ is now well advanced.
Our constant focus on freshness, great value and
outstanding service is appealing to more and more
people. And we’re now closer to more customers,
having opened 43 new stores last year.
Freshness, great value and outstanding
service mean our brand and our products are
appealing to more people for more reasons.
Value
Fresh
Our research supports this as we are
attracting more customers from higher
income groups as well as younger customers.
We are consistently ranked higher than
our competitors for having ‘the freshest
food possible’.
Great selling and service
for our customers
Moving from ‘National
to Nationwide’
Our employees
Success at Morrisons relies on our
134,000 people delivering great service
to our customers each and every day by
living our values.
Fresh in-store
preparation
Visit w ww.morrisons.co.uk/today
Service
Vertical integration
in the supply chain
The ‘Food Specialist
for Everyone’.
See page 16 for more information
A sustainable and responsible retailer
We aim to build responsible and sustainable
values into our business and the products
we sell.
Keeping costs low
to ensure our prices
are competitive
Brand values
Objectives
Ensuring the right
product is always
available
Great value across
our ranges
Vision
Vision
Our vision to become the ‘food specialist
for everyone’ means:
Food specialist
We really understand food...
• we know where it comes from;
• we pack it and make it in our factories;
• we make it in our stores; and
• we employ craft skills in every store.
For everyone
Great food which is also:
• great value; and
• for every day, not just special days.
This vision is supported by our brand values
and strategic objectives.
Brand values
Our brand values are important to delivering
our strategy and underpin all our strategic
objectives. Fresh, Value and Service are
discussed in the box above.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC
Objectives
Our strategic objectives build on Morrisons
historic strengths and make us unique in
the UK grocery market. They are aligned
to our brand values.
Fresh
We aim to offer more freshly prepared food
than any other supermarket retailer, through
our own manufacturing facilities and in-store
food preparation.
We can better control fresh and quality produce
through being vertically integrated. Having our
own manufacturing, packing facilities and
distribution network means we can get food
to our stores faster so that it’s always fresher.
Value
We offer quality and freshness at a price people
like. Our famous promotional offers always
save our customers money. We don’t just offer
value on a few items – our prices are great value
across the ranges.
Annual report and financial statements 2010
7
What we do
We have 425 food supermarkets across the
UK. Our strength is that we take pride in
being great shopkeepers and providing fresh,
great value food with outstanding service.
National to Nationwide
We identified an opportunity for space growth
so that more households in the UK are within
a 15 minute drive of one of our stores. This
space growth started with the acquisition of
38 stores from Co-operative/Somerfield in
2009, 34 of which were converted and fully
trading as Morrisons during 2009. This added
480,000 square feet of space during the year.
A simple strategy
Our strategy is simple and builds on our
historical strengths of offering great value
and fresh food.
Unlike other retailers we are focused almost
entirely on food. It’s this focus that’s delivering
our increased sales and market share.
What makes us different
We are different from other supermarkets
as we produce fresh food for our stores by
making it in-store or in our own manufacturing
facilities. We deliver to our stores using
our own distribution network.
What we mean by fresh
It’s a commitment to sourcing locally and
preparing as much as possible in-store.
It means people who know their trade
providing service and choice for people who
know what they like. This means freshly baked
bread; meat cut to order; advice on fresh fish;
seasonal deli selections; and a constantly
changing selection of fresh cakes and treats.
We will also be increasing our number of
smaller stores. These are stores with less than
20,000 square feet of sales area but still with
a complete Market Street. These smaller stores
are not convenience shops but do provide
convenient shopping.
Key
Stores
Manufacturing sites
Distribution centres
Sittingbourne distribution centre, Kent
(opened August 2009)
56
Scotland
78
49
North
Scotland
74
North
81
Midlands
64
70
Midlands
54
South West
56
South West
Service
It is our aim that, in the future, most households
in the UK will be within a 15 minute drive of one
of our stores. Our plan to move from National
to Nationwide will make our stores accessible
to more people.
We aim to have the right product always
available for our customers. Our integrated
supply chain means we can get food to our
stores quickly, increasing choice and availability.
Our craft-skilled employees prepare more fresh
food in-store than any other supermarket. They
know their trade and they give our customers
what they want – fresh food served by helpful,
friendly, well-trained employees.
www.morrisons.co.uk/annualreport10
72
74
South East
South Central
65
South East
South Central
Visit www.morrisons.co.uk/corporate
4 —— 17
DeliVeRing Results
Strategic review
Business aCtiVity
2007
2010
Total stores 368
total stores 425
Optimisation Plan
The Optimisation Plan was announced in
March 2006 and set out a number of
programmes designed to deliver by this
year end. The programmes have helped deliver
our strategy in this time and will continue
to shape the business for growth. Further
information on how we have performed against
these objectives can be found on page 21.
sustainaBle fOOD fOR...
2010 and beyond
Our strategy continues to be based on delivering
our vision of being the ‘food specialist for
everyone’. A major extension to our strategy,
announced in 2009, is our programme to take
the business from National to Nationwide.
There continue to be large parts of Great Britain
where potential customers do not have easy
access to a Morrisons store. We want to open
stores in these parts of the country, so that we
can take our food specialist offer to everyone.
Today
fresh fish: 100% of our own
brand fresh fish complies with our
sustainable sourcing policy. Our
counters have been certified under
the Marine Stewardship Council
(MSC) Chain of Custody programme.
Visit www.morrisons.co.uk/today
Annual report and financial statements 2010