Morrisons co-founder Sir Ken Morrison was not a fan of home delivery, which he saw as a step backwards to a boyhood ferrying groceries on a bicycle for his dad.
However, like many of its customers during the coronavirus lockdown, his namesake supermarket chain has eagerly jumped back into the saddle – teaming up with Deliveroo’s two-wheeled couriers to deliver essential groceries and even hot meals.
Before the pandemic hit the UK and dramatically changed shopping and eating habits across the country, only 7% of UK groceries were sold online. Since then it’s soared to 11.5%, according to market analysis firm Kantar.
Under the chief executive, David Potts – a Mancunian who worked his way from the shop floor right to the highest ranks of Tesco before taking the top job at Morrisons five years ago – the company has positioned itself well for this new world, via alliances with Amazon and Ocado to access the fast-growing online market.
The Deliveroo tie-up, via 130 stores, is one of three new delivery services introduced by Morrisons in just a few weeks since the coronavirus pandemic hit.
While non-essential retailers that closed during the lockdown are preparing to reopen from Monday, supermarket chains such as Morrisons have been grappling with the challenges of an entirely new way of operating since March.
The group has been able to triple its number of home shopping slots by starting to offer customers the option of picking up their own goods bought online, phone orders and a food box scheme, which started with essentials and has branched out into supplies for special occasions such as Eid and VE Day.
The Bradford-based supermarket chain has also rapidly expanded its existing online grocery shopping services, with products picked from dozens of stores, as well as a distribution centre run by Ocado. The relationship with Amazon has also blossomed, offering the Prime fast delivery service from more than 40 stores, up from about 17 before lockdown.
The service Potts is most proud of, however, harks back to earlier days that even Sir Ken could relate to. It is a phone service through which vulnerable and elderly shoppers can speak to a Morrisons employee , who will pass on their shopping list to a local store thatdelivers it the next day.
Only set up in April, the doorstep delivery service dropped off its 100,000th order last week and operates from every local authority in the country. The company leased about 600 vans and deliveries are made by staff members, including new recruits such as former airline pilots who have signed up temporarily during the lockdown.
“It’s an essential service for those customers. These people no longer have a carer able to do what they did or relatives or dependants either self-isolating or not allowed out,” says Potts.
In a week where a supermarket assistant from Waitrose graced the front cover of Vogue, Potts says there has also been rightful recognition of ordinary workers’ efforts to feed the country.
“All our colleagues have been putting their bodies on the line every day going to meet members of the public. One purpose has galvanised over 100,000 people – to serve people of Britain. We provide the most important thing outside of public health,” he says.
“Our people are the new rock stars. They are working with the British public and doing their thing in society.”
When demand soared in March, as shoppers stocked up amid fears of store closures and the need to self-isolate at home if they became ill, the company was forced to recruit 31,000 new members of staff for its stores, distribution centres and food plants. This included abattoirs, bakeries and fish processing sites.
Staff absence ballooned, as those forced to isolate stayed at home, from the usual 3% to just above 20%, which Potts describes as “biblical”. Absence remains high at about 10%.
There was also a need to step up food production and keep shelves stocked as families switched from eating out and buying takeaways to cooking everything at home.
With home bakers desperate for supplies, for example, Potts bought a £540,000 flour packing machine from Italy so that catering-sized sacks could be repackaged for stores. “We’ve wanged it into our bakery in Wakefield and we’re packing flour,” he says.
The company’s AGM in its home city of Bradford on Thursday will be a limited affair without any shareholders in attendance, in keeping with social distancing rules.
However, despite this, the company is facing a potential shareholder revolt over a proposal for a 24% pension contribution rate for Potts and the chief operating officer, Trevor Strain, this year. Shareholder advisory group ISS is reportedly recommending a vote against the remuneration policy as a result.
Potts, 63, says he never thinks about retirement despite having collected a string of very healthy pay cheques from Morrisons. “I feel fully employed in my job of feeding the nation,” he says.
