In a tie-up with Ocado, Morrisons has finally confirmed the shape and structure of its long-awaited move online.

In a tie-up with Ocado, Morrisons has finally confirmed the shape and structure of its long-awaited move online.

The Bradford-based grocer is the last of the “big four” supermarkets to enter the race for digital market share.

While rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda jockey for position for a prize that’s estimated to boom 70% in the next five years, Morrisons’ absence has cast a shadow over chief executive Dalton Philips’ tenure since he took the reins in 2010.

If it works, this deal should enable Morrisons to fly out of the blocks, with Ocado effectively offering its partner a white-label service that will include website development, fulfilment capabilities and an agreement whereby the bricks-and-mortar grocer buys technology and warehousing facilities at Ocado’s new Dordon customer fulfilment centre and then leases them back.

The tie-up will allow Morrisons to leverage arguably the most advanced online food delivery service available, instant access to online grocery expertise and, most importantly, the ability to move swiftly to combat one of its key strategic weaknesses.

But in eschewing the development of Morrisons’ own capabilities, Philips’ strategic choice will create questions that will linger over the grocer’s digital future, most notably: is this the right deal for the long term?

Morrisons will quickly inherit all the concerns and uncertainties that surround the profitability of the Ocado model.

And there are already those arguing against the investment in a centralised ecommerce business that has yet to prove its long-term viability, when it could have leveraged a store portfolio of close to 500 properties in a decentralised model with operations closer to customers.

More perplexing, however, is the sheer length of the deal Philips has struck. With retailers loath to sign property leases much beyond a few years these days, 25 years seems a lifetime in digital terms. When you cast your mind back to 1988 and where online retail was then, there must be concerns this partnership will simply be irrelevant in a quarter of a century’s time.

The truth is this may not have been the option of choice had Morrisons entered the race at the same time as its rivals more than a decade ago. But Ocado allows Philips the best chance of moving from a standing start to something approaching a competitive pace quickly - and with so much ground to catch up, that might have been the most significant motivation behind this deal.