Andy Higginson said the fact that some commentators have written off Morrisons was a motivator and it would fight back by “listening to customers”.  

Morrisons has removed locks from its trolleys in a bid to improve the customer offer

Higginson, a Tesco veteran who joined Morrisons last summer, said he believed the battle over grocery would not be won through scale, but instead by responding to consumers’ needs.

“No-one gives us a chance. So it makes it all the more sweeter and more motivating to have that as a backdrop,” Higginson told the IGD conference in London this week. “We can build a more customer-focussed business.”

Like its mainstream rivals, Morrisons has struggled in the face of competition from the discounters, food deflation and changing customer habits. In its last half-year, Morrisons revealed profits dived 35%, while like-for-likes slid 2.7%.

New boss David Potts, who joined in March, has vowed to revive what he calls a “British underdog”. Higginson called him a “formidable talent”.

Potts has overhauled the grocer’s top team, overseen the sale of its convenience business M Local and scrapped its confusing loyalty card scheme.

Higginson echoed Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe talking earlier in the day by rejecting the idea that big-box supermarkets are a thing of the past. However, he admitted that Morrisons had a “massive challenge ahead”.

“These troubled times create the right conditions for a rebirth and the list will get rewritten again,” he told delegates.

Earlier, Shore Capital analyst Clive Black argued that the mainstream grocers had suffered from being “arrogant and self-consuming” and had “dug their own graves” by opening too much space.

Meanwhile, Higginson warned that Amazon could find it difficult to crack the UK grocery sector. “Whether the formidable Amazon will win online is difficult to say,” he said. “Customers are funny about food. They put a lot of trust in brands around food and it’s hard for people to break in.”

The etail giant has dipped its toe into UK grocery by starting selling chilled goods in Birmingham and London, and its Amazon Fresh offer is expected to launch next year.