Morrisons’ loyalty scheme targeted by complaints from its rivals
MORRISONS has again been the target of complaints from its supermarket rivals after Aldi complained to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) about its Match & More campaign.
An ASA spokesperson confirmed they had received 15 complaints, including one from Aldi, about the Morrisons Match & More TV and print campaign.
The complainants have claimed the adverts include misleading comparisons, and the terms and conditions aren’t clear enough about minimum spend and how the credit will be accrued and used by customers.
In the tit-for-tat world of supermarket marketing, complaints and counter-complaints can be common but Morrisons have raised the ire of its competitors in recent months.
Last month, Asda’s chief merchandising officer accused its West Yorkshire rival of “printing £5 notes” through its voucher scheme.
“Our friends in Bradford have really pressed the voucher button,” he said. “Mervyn King is alive and well in Bradford, undertaking quantitative easing.”
Pressure is also coming from analysts, with Morrisons most recent quarterly results showing it was continuing to lose ground, especially to discount retailers.
David Gray, a retail analyst at Planet Retail, said the results show Morrisons is still struggling to come up with a solution to the “seemingly unstoppable rise” of the hard discounters, and it needed its loyalty scheme to perform.
He said: “Its efforts to develop a loyalty scheme in the quarter are commendable and may be just the medicine the company needs – it’s just a shame they didn’t have the customer data that the scheme will deliver before they embarked on e-commerce and c-store expansion. Match & More is the first combined price matching and loyalty scheme comparing prices with Aldi and Lidl.
“Although early days, this will undoubtedly help stem the tide of shoppers heading through Aldi and Lidl’s doors – although Morrisons may have to accept lower margins and profitability as a result. This is a price it may just have to stomach.”
Mr Gray said that, although brimming with ideas on how to solve the malaise surrounding the chain, current chief executive Dalton Philips has yet to deliver a marked improvement in performance.
“If the price-matching loyalty scheme doesn’t deliver the necessary result, Philips’ days may yet be numbered,” he said.
