Morrisons convenience restructure puts 100 jobs at risk

The proposed restructuring will see its Morrisons Daily commercial and support functions merged into one team, potentially spelling the end of its independent convenience buying team, The Grocer reported.

The Morrisons Daily convenience stores will now be treated as part of its broader retail division, lead by group retail director Martin Dawson, with buying and commercial functions being led by group trading director Andrew Staniland in central buying.

The news comes a few weeks after it was first reported by Retail Week that group convenience and wholesale director Matt Heslop was leaving the business after less than a year.

Morrisons is also reportedly relocating certain functions of its general merchandise division from Bradford to a standalone office in Warrington, in order to be closer to suppliers.

“To enable us to deliver a truly multichannel shopping experience for Morrisons customers, we are proposing to integrate the operation of our supermarkets and company-owned convenience stores and support office functions into a single team structure,” said a Morrisons spokesman.

“The plans will allow us to leverage the existing skills and expertise we have in the business, remove duplication, simplify our store operations and capture efficiencies.

“There will be no direct impact on Morrisons Daily stores. The proposal will also enhance our ability to deliver a multichannel approach to our trading business, leveraging opportunities with suppliers to improve our customer offer across both our supermarket and convenience formats.”

Morrisons is the third of the traditional ‘big four’ supermarkets to have undertaken some form of internal restructuring in the last few weeks.

On February 25, Retail Week revealed that the UK’s largest retailer Tesco would be shaking up its head office functions to focus more on fast-growing areas of the business, such as quick commerce and personalisation, putting 180 roles at risk of redundancy.

The following day Sainsbury’s confirmed plans to restructure both its core business and Argos, which could result in as many as 300 jobs being made redundant.