Morrisons chairman says shoppers losing trust in big four
THE new chairman of Morrisons says shoppers have turned to Aldi and Lidl after losing trust in the “big four”.
Andy Higginson, who joined the board of Morrisons this month, said the leading supermarkets had opened the door to Aldi and Lidl by “talking to each other, not their customers” in their marketing, the Telegraph reported.
Speaking at the industry’s IGD conference, Higginson, who is replacing Sir Ian Gibson as chairman of the Bradford-based supermarket, said the grocery industry is facing “extraordinary times”.
He said: “The dialogue with customers has not been honest. Customers have lost trust in supermarket pricing.”
The new Morrisons chairman said he had been “astonished” by the marketing of the “big four” as they have launched price-matching schemes.
He said: “Supermarkets have been very focused on each other. The marketing dialogue has astonished me. It is the big four talking to each other, not their customers.”
Higginson compared the challenges facing the industry with the early 1990s, when Asda was struggling and Tesco was urged to revamp its brand.
“That was a trigger for tremendous change,” he said.
The grocer has introduced ‘Match & More’ which it says is the first programme of its kind to provide a price match guarantee against Aldi and Lidl as well as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
