Sales rising as Morrisons pulls in customers

Jun 5 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

SUPERMARKET Morrisons said it attracted half a million more new customers each week to its stores in the first quarter as like-for-like sales rose 7.3%.

The group kept up the pressure on rivals with heavy discounting, offering 8,000 price cuts under the group’s Price Crunch campaign.

Morrisons’ sales hike in the 13 weeks to May 3, which excludes fuel but includes VAT, was broadly in line with the 7.9% hike in annual sales reported in March, despite easing food price inflation.

Morrisons said with VAT excluded, first quarter sales rose 8.2% – matching the 8.2% seen over the year to February 1.

The UK’s fourth largest supermarket said it was stealing further market share from rivals, with good growth in traditionally weaker areas for Morrisons, such as London, the South and Scotland.

The most recent data from TNS Worldpanel showed Morrisons enjoyed the greatest level of annual growth in the four weeks to May, chipping away further at Tesco’s dominance.

Morrisons chief executive Marc Bolland, said the sales figures were a particularly good result against last year’s strong comparative result, when sales rose 7%.

He added the group was taking its next step from national to nationwide as it ploughs on with expansion plans.

Morrisons aims to expand by around 350,000sq ft of new retail space over the year ahead – on top of the 500,000sq ft it has already agreed to acquire from the Co-operative Group.