UK retailer Morrisons has announced that it is extending its opening hours for the "dawn and dusk" shopper at almost half of its 490 stores.
From today, 230 stores across the UK will open from 6am to 11pm every day, which will equate to an extra 1,600 hours of trading per week. Morrisons took the decision after research showed that almost 20 per cent of consumers prefer to shop before 9am in the morning and after 8pm in the night, as it's quieter and because of work or family obligations.
Dalton Philips, CEO of Morrisons, said, "Modern family life, flexible working hours and busy schedules mean customers want to shop earlier and later. Therefore we need to be open for longer. The extension of our opening hours is one of many changes we are making – to make shopping trips easier at our stores."
Some regional Morrisons stores will also extend their opening times by an hour or two.
This is the latest move by the struggling retailer to improve its image, increase sales and win back customers. Morrisons made a pre-tax loss of £176 million last year and has seen like-for-like sales fall by over 7 per cent for the quarter to 4 May.
Other improvements have included price cuts, refurbishment of facilities, redesign of store layouts and the upgrading of the IT systems for stock replenishment. Morrisons is also finally providing online shopping, the last of the big four UK retailers to do so, and apparently online sales are performing ahead of expectations. More difficult measures include planned staff cuts and management restructuring.
However, not everyone is impressed with the new measures; Ken Morrison, former chairman and son of the founder, has been particularly critical of Philips' strategy.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – Europe’s grocery retail magazine, for all your breaking supermarket, convenience store and FMCG news. Article written by Nicole Gernon
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