"Morrisons cuts prices on hundreds of items in supermarket battle"

[dutchman]

Retailer says reductions are not a gimmick as it plans further cuts in coming weeks



Morrisons has cut the price of more than 500 everyday groceries including beef mince, coffee and biscuits as it battles to climb out of a sales slump.

Industry data shows Morrisons is the worst-performing member of the big four supermarkets amid an exodus to the fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Shares in Yorkshire-based Morrisons have fallen by 17% in the last year and it narrowly avoided losing its place in the FTSE 100 in this month’s quarterly review.

Morrisons said the price reductions, which average 15%, were not a gimmick but part of a plan to make products “more affordable and prices stable for customers”. It said hundreds more cuts were scheduled for the coming weeks.

“These price cuts will help customers manage their budgets,” said Andy Atkinson, the commercial director. “We’re cutting the price of hundreds of our customers’ favourite items and are holding them low.”

The reductions are on staples such as a four-pack of baking potatoes, down 15p to 50p, and products from its food manufacturing sites such as British beef mince, now £1.50 for 500g, which the grocer claimed was the best price in the market.

Kantar data for the 12 weeks to 23 February showed sales at Tesco and Asda dipped by 0.8% and 1.2%, while Morrisons sales were 2% lower than the same period last year, pulling its market share down from 10.4% to 10.2%. The figures showed the German chains Lidl and Aldi were continuing to win over British shoppers, with sales up 11.4% and 5.7%.