Morrisons is preparing to scrap home deliveries from 50 of its supermarkets as online demand subsides following the relaxing of pandemic restrictions.
The supermarket giant has launched a consultation with 1,400 staff over the proposed changes. Affected employees will either be moved to new roles at their store or offered voluntary redundancy, as first reported by The Mirror.
Like many of its grocery rivals, Morrisons rapidly scaled up its online business during the height of the pandemic to cope with surging demand, at a time when many shoppers were unable to leave their homes.
But the volume of sales now being made online is reducing as the UK emerges from the crisis.
According to the latest Kantar data, the proportion of grocery sales made online slipped to 12.2% in September – the lowest level since May 2020.
The average size of online baskets has also dropped by £17 from levels recorded during the first national lockdown.
A Morrisons spokesman said: “At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we rapidly grew our store home delivery service to serve the many customers who moved from shopping in-store to online.
“As we enter this next phase of the pandemic and with many restrictions now eased, we must now adapt and make some changes to the size of our online operation to meet our customer demands.”
He added: “All colleagues affected by these proposed changes will be given the opportunity to either move into an alternative role within our business or apply for voluntary redundancy.
“As part of this consultation process, we will be offering all hourly paid colleagues within affected stores the opportunity to also apply for voluntary redundancy.
“We are consulting closely with Usdaw on all proposed changes.”
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