Morrisons recognises need for e-commerce outlet after slow Christmas sales

Wednesday, January 9, 2013 - 12:51 by Simon Crisp

The 2.5 per cent dip in sales at supermarket chain, Morrisons, is being seen as clear evidence that no major retailer can be without a portal for safe shopping online and survive in the modern marketplace.

The Guardian reports that Morrisons has experienced the least successful festive period of any UK supermarket, amidst general doom and gloom on the high street.

It was only thanks to strong e-commerce activity that the UK's retail sector was able to boast a modest 0.3 per cent sales increase in December of 2012.

If you take away the purchases made via safe shopping online, retailers actually saw a significant drop in the number of people spending their cash at bricks and mortar outlets.

Morrisons is the only one of the UK's biggest supermarkets that does not currently have a dedicated e-commerce site, allowing its customers to place online orders.

It has been acquiring new companies and working towards the launching of such a service for some time, although this is still in the development stage and analysts believe that it needs to go live sooner rather than later, if Morrisons is to avoid further financial issues.

One of the reasons given for the reduction in sales at Morrisons is that consumers were increasingly enamoured with the click and collect grocery services offered by its rivals.

In the UK, millions of households chose to place orders for their festive shopping online and then collect it from their nearest store, once it had been bagged up for them by staff.

This eliminates the annoyance of pushing through the crowds during busy periods, while still allowing you to get your goods on the same day that you place an order.

Morrisons definitely needs to enter the e-commerce market in the near future, so that it does not succumb to the general market stagnation.