The Tesco & other non-Morrisons supermarket thread

[bilky asko]

Coincidentally, I spotted today that my local Morrisons has changed its hot food counters from serve-over counters to self-service heated cabinets, to match the pasty counter.

[WillPS]

Does it all stem from the growth of Aldi and Lidl and the fact everything for the big 4 supermarkets is based on being competitive on price

Only the supermarkets that don’t focus on price can afford the nice stuff like counters

Who's that then? Booths?

Waitrose still have their counters as well. My local Morrisons still has its hot food counter manned too so not sure the logic quite follows!

Both have marketing which highlights low prices. As do M&S Food (which also has some counters).

Asda also have pizza + hot food, but again is a retailer with a whole heritage of monofocusing on price (until the idiots got involved and started pitching themselves against Harrods anyway).

[all new Phil]

I think there’s a real opportunity for one of the supermarkets to come out with a back to basics ‘we make decent food and charge alright prices’ campaign. Feels like they’ve all got confusing messages at the moment. Probably Sainsbury’s are the closest to getting it right.

[WillPS]

I think there’s a real opportunity for one of the supermarkets to come out with a back to basics ‘we make decent food and charge alright prices’ campaign. Feels like they’ve all got confusing messages at the moment. Probably Sainsbury’s are the closest to getting it right.

That is pretty much the Sainsburys proposition AIUI, and yes they are doing very well.

[Zimba]

I think there’s a real opportunity for one of the supermarkets to come out with a back to basics ‘we make decent food and charge alright prices’ campaign. Feels like they’ve all got confusing messages at the moment. Probably Sainsbury’s are the closest to getting it right.

Personally I'm surprised one of the traditional Big 4 haven't split their estate in half. Their massive expansion in the 00's and 10's have left them extremely confused.

Like picking out Morrisons as imo they're the worst.

They've got stores in Morpeth, Tynemouth, Guisborough, Seaburn and Alnwick. All place which are generally well off.

They've also got stores in Byker, Hartlepool, Jarrow, Berwick Hills and West Denton.

Trying to build a store design for those communities is near to impossible as if you build an ideal store for the first lot, you'll alienate the second group and if you do the second group you'll alienate the first.

They'd be much better being two brands really. It's probably one reason why Sainsbury's can do better as they've generally avoided the rougher areas so it's easier to build a brand of good quality food for decent prices.

[Pete]

They've got stores in Morpeth, Tynemouth, Guisborough, Seaburn and Alnwick. All place which are generally well off.

with the exception of Tynemouth all four were Safeway towns. Whitley Bay of course also a Safeway.

Tynemouth is interesting because its not Tynemouth its Preston Grange which was abandoned by Safeway when they decided to close and not replace the Presto. And Safeway closed the branch in the Beacon Centre when they realised, a lot earlier than others, that Shields town centre was on its way out...

[Zimba]

They've got stores in Morpeth, Tynemouth, Guisborough, Seaburn and Alnwick. All place which are generally well off.

with the exception of Tynemouth all four were Safeway towns. Whitley Bay of course also a Safeway.

Tynemouth is interesting because its not Tynemouth its Preston Grange which was abandoned by Safeway when they decided to close and not replace the Presto. And Safeway closed the branch in the Beacon Centre when they realised, a lot earlier than others, that Shields town centre was on its way out...

Aye you're right, mind Seaburn was a Morrisons from the start but there was the small one in Fulwell which is a Tesco Express and Heron Foods now I believe.

The store estate is a right old mess, I'm surprised they've never brought back Safeway tbh in some form. Mind which one you'd convert to the less affluent supermarket would be hard to decide since Morrisons on paper should really be more attractive to someone more affluent, store counters, fresh food etc.

[WillPS]

I think there’s a real opportunity for one of the supermarkets to come out with a back to basics ‘we make decent food and charge alright prices’ campaign. Feels like they’ve all got confusing messages at the moment. Probably Sainsbury’s are the closest to getting it right.

Personally I'm surprised one of the traditional Big 4 haven't split their estate in half. Their massive expansion in the 00's and 10's have left them extremely confused.

Like picking out Morrisons as imo they're the worst.

They've got stores in Morpeth, Tynemouth, Guisborough, Seaburn and Alnwick. All place which are generally well off.

They've also got stores in Byker, Hartlepool, Jarrow, Berwick Hills and West Denton.

Trying to build a store design for those communities is near to impossible as if you build an ideal store for the first lot, you'll alienate the second group and if you do the second group you'll alienate the first.

They'd be much better being two brands really. It's probably one reason why Sainsbury's can do better as they've generally avoided the rougher areas so it's easier to build a brand of good quality food for decent prices.

Disagree. Tesco have stores in all areas, and tend to do well wherever they are. Morrisons and Sainsburys are not that far off in trading proposition.

Aldi and Lidl are opening stores more or less wherever they physically can, and their stores have almost no localisation branch to branch (save a bit more sandwiches in city centre ones).

[Zimba]

Disagree. Tesco have stores in all areas, and tend to do well wherever they are. Morrisons and Sainsburys are not that far off in trading proposition.

Aldi and Lidl are opening stores more or less wherever they physically can, and their stores have almost no localisation branch to branch (save a bit more sandwiches in city centre ones).

That's a big problem for Morrison's though imo. Sainsbury's estate is in a place where it actually works, usually more affulent areas. Morrison's stores just aren't, someone in somewhere like West Denton in Newcastle or Berwick Hills in Middlesbrough don't want that proposition and both are completely dead half the time. ASDA is much of the same bar the opposite way round.

Both Morrison's and ASDA imo have no unique selling point right now, Morrison's is just a worse Sainsbury's with much worse quality food and Market Street which is neglected and understaffed and ASDA is just a big Aldi/Lidl with the same quality food at much higher prices.

It's why they're both losing marketshare as everyone is flocking to either Aldi/Lidl or Sainsbury's as they're both better. I'm one of them pretty much moving to the Sainsbury's side and I wouldn't have touched the place 10 year ago as it used to be expensive and you can tell others are moving across aswell as the stores are noticeably getting busier.

[Charlie Wells]

Personally I'm surprised one of the traditional Big 4 haven't split their estate in half. Their massive expansion in the 00's and 10's have left them extremely confused.

Tesco did try it some years ago by launching Jacks in 2018, I think converting some stores and utilising at least one dormant site. It was designed to compete with Lidl and Aldi. Ultimately it failed, with the brand ceasing in 2022.

More broadly I think the term "Big 4" is probably outdated. According to Statista the market share of grocery stores as of November 2024 is as follows.

• Tesco: 27.9%
• Sainsbury’s: 15.5%
• Asda: 12.5%
• Aldi: 10.4%
• Morrisons: 8.6%
• Lidl: 7.7%
• The Co-operative: 5.7%
• Waitrose: 4.6%
• Iceland: 2.2%
• Ocado: 1.8%

[WillPS]

Personally I'm surprised one of the traditional Big 4 haven't split their estate in half. Their massive expansion in the 00's and 10's have left them extremely confused.

Tesco did try it some years ago by launching Jacks in 2018, I think converting some stores and utilising at least one dormant site. It was designed to compete with Lidl and Aldi. Ultimately it failed, with the brand ceasing in 2022.

Sainsburys did the same with their Netto JV, which lasted all of a couple of years.