A “reset” of its drinks category was a seminal factor in allowing Morrisons to achieve a 0.2 per cent like-for-like sales growth over the nine weeks ending 3 January 2016, thedrinksbusiness.com reports.
Morrisons beer and wine category performed better than was anticipated over the period, it said.
Over the last year, Morrisons spent £10 million rebranding its wine offering, ranging wines by their country of origin. This was brought about following the failure of its ‘taste test’ system, whereby wines were grouped by overlaps in their tasting notes.
Regarding this, its wine-sourcing manager Clive Donaldson said, “The key thing for customers is finding wine – best way to navigate by country, the next thing is about style and finding words that resonate and they understand.”
On Morrisons’ successful Christmas trading period (its first quarterly rise in sales for more than 12 months), its CEO David Potts said, “While there is of course much more to do, we are making important progress in improving all aspects of the shopping trip, and our customers tell us they are pleased with the changes.
“In addition, we have made further progress in debt reduction, and our financial position is strong and getting stronger.”
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
