British supermarket chain Morrisons will be reviving the Safeway brand early next year in a new branded range of convenience products for wholesale to independent retailers, the chain announced Tuesday.
This reintroduction of the Safeway brand, 12 years after the supermarket took it over in a £2.9 billion merger in 2004, will allow the company to use its sourcing expertise and "unique food-maker skills" to give retailers unparalleled access to products, the company said.
In addition, Morrisons is launching a convenience-food offer in ten Rontec petrol station shops, called Morrisons Daily.
Four of these stores will open before Christmas, and six more will open in January next year. They will be supplied by the retailer through wholesaler specialist Palmer & Harvey.
Each store will have up to 3,000 square feet of sales space and offer branded as well as private-label products.
The company is currently trialling a convenience offer with forecourt operator Motor Fuel Group.
David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said of the new initiatives, "These are two capital-light ways of growing in the convenience-food market. By working with well-established partners and reviving the Safeway brand, we are making our products more accessible to more customers."
The company's third quarter showed an increase of like-for-like sales of 1.6% compared to the same period in 2015.
It has also been forging ahead in the online realm, extending its wholesaling agreement with Amazon to include Prime customers.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
