New Morrisons supply chain system fully operational

Morrisons reports that its new automated ordering system is now fully operational in all stores across all food categories. “We expect it to continue to improve availability and save time for colleagues in the important period ahead over Christmas and New Year,” it said in its Q3 trading statement. “We were pleased the new system was named Supply Chain Innovation of the Year at the recent IGD Awards.”

In the 13 weeks to 29th October, Group like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 2.5%, comprising contributions from retail of 2.1% and wholesale of 0.4%. Total sales excluding fuel increased by 2.3% (3.2% including fuel). “We again worked hard during the quarter to limit the impact of lower sterling on imported food prices, and made good progress on becoming more competitive,” the retailer noted. Sales at the supermarket have now grown for eight quarters in a row. The latest increase is, however, slightly below the 2.6% rise in the previous quarter and also down on 3.4% in the first quarter.

David Potts, Chief Executive, says: “We are pleased with a further step up in our competitiveness and another period of positive like-for-like sales growth. I am confident our plans to keep serving customers better will enable us to continue the strong momentum of the year so far, into the important fourth quarter. As we work towards becoming a broader, stronger business, a new Morrisons is taking shape, built by our colleagues on firm balance sheet foundations.”