Morrisons rolls out further price 'Crunch' cuts

Morrisons has expanded its 'Price Crunch' programme as it seeks to win back customers from discounters.

The Yorkshire-hedquartered supermarket group said it was cutting the price of 847 products, with an average cut of 20% focused on grocery items such as bags of sugar, rice, and cereals.

Price Crunch is rolling programme of lower prices, with cuts typically lasting at least three months.

“We continue to listen hard to customers who say they want lower prices on staples and everyday family essentials," said Andy Atkinson, Morrisons’ marketing and customer director.

“We are continuing to cut every price we can, as we make Morrisons even more competitive and improve our customers’ shopping trip.”

Ahead of a stock market update on Thursday, house broker Shore Capital said Morrisons had made the cuts in a "relatively understated" manner as the business "seeks to become more value effective amongst a basket of self-improvement that embraces store standards, product offering, merchandising and service".

ShoreCap expect Thursday's trading statement to include a "broad programme of progress", forecasting broadly flat like-for-like sales including a circa 2.5% closed-store headwind.

"Beyond Price Crunch, which is nibbling away at the differential between Morrisons and the market, most notably perhaps the limited assortment discounters (LADs), we also note further across the store improvements from the retailer," said analyst Clive Black.

He noted that the grocer has re-launched many prepared food lines in the chilled food aisles and that the group's premium private label range is also undergoing modernisation.