Morrisons boss Potts pledges further price cuts in run-up to Christmas

This week, Morrisons unveiled what Potts called “our biggest ever price cuts” across more than 400 items, and the supermarket’s chief executive promised increasingly price-conscious consumers that more was to come. 

“The pandemic has bought many fundamental changes, however, our focus on value is stronger than ever. We’ve improved our competitiveness by cutting prices, and by improving product spec, packaging and display across hundreds of customer favourites,” he said. 

“This week, we launched our biggest ever price cuts across more customer favourites across the business, and in the second half we’ll invest further in product quality, service and price.”

He also said that Morrisons customers could expect their “cheapest ever Christmas” this year. 

“We intend to make sure, over the seven weeks around Christmas, to be more competitive and cheaper on those 451 shopping basket items than last year. We will be competitive – on average, £22 cheaper over those seven weeks year on year.”

With the British economy still struggling to bounce back from the hit it took at the beginning of the year with the coronavirus lockdown, and now caught in the grips of the worst recession on record, Potts also touted Morrisons’ record of creating new jobs. 

He said the retailer had taken on over 26,000 new staff since March. 

“We’ve created new employment for 26,000 people in the UK. In the teeth of a recession, and with growing Covid-19 uncertainty, I think that’s very important,” he said. 

Potts said that at the height of the crisis absences among staff were as high as 18%, and that had since fallen to around 6%. 

As with other grocery businesses, many of the new roles have been created in order to serve the growth in online home delivery. Potts said Morrisons’ growing relationships with the likes of Amazon and Deliveroo put it in a good position to capitalise on this shift.