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E-commerce absence means Morrisons loses 700 million in sales

Monday, July 15, 2013 - 10:18 by Graham Miller

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The full extent of the damage done by Morrisons' reticence with regards to the launch of a platform for shopping online has been revealed by the retailer's chief executive, Dalton Philips.

At the end of last week he revealed that a  700 million mountain of sales is being lost each year, as it does not join its competitors in offering an online grocery service, because it is, of course, the last of the big supermarkets to enter the e-commerce arena.

Mr Philips believes that half a billion pounds is being spent with Morrisons' competitors because loyal customers have no choice but to use a rival online grocery service.

The deal that Morrisons announced with Ocado earlier in the year should help to redress the balance, although it could be that the company has left it a little too late to be really competitive when it comes to safe shopping online, at least in the short term.

It will need to invest heavily in marketing to make sure that people are aware that they can now shop online with the supermarket, although Mr Philips said that the platform should be able to break even within the next four years, according to the Mirror.

He explained that Morrisons plans to offer an online grocery shopping experience which is not just financially viable, but also actively improves upon what is offered by rivals.

If consumers find that Morrisons does indeed make it easier to buy groceries and other non-food items online, with pricing that matches or betters the alternative options, then they could be convinced to make this their main portal for purchases.

On the other hand, Mr Philips' confidence does not discount the fact that Morrisons is not experienced in this area and may have some teething problems to work through following the launch.