Morrisons hired former Carrefour France boss Rami Baitiéh as its new CEO, as David Potts exits the retailer after nine years.
Baitiéh, who is due to step up to the plate in November, certainly seems to have strong credentials, having spent more than 20 years at French grocery giant Carrefour.
But who is Rami Baitiéh and is he the right fit for Morrisons?
A leader that gets results
Senior adviser at Morrisons owner CD&R Sir Terry Leahy describes Baitiéh as an “exceptionally talented and highly capable leader with a strong track record of driving performance wherever he has been posted”.
Indeed, in its last financial year, Carrefour France sales jumped 10.2% to €834m as operating margin increased 7 basis points to 2.2%.
The group said that Carrefour had outperformed all French food retailers in volume terms in 2022, and was ranked first in terms of market share gains.
Baitiéh cites fast turnarounds, cultural, organisational and digital change as his key skills on LinkedIn.
These skills will be much needed at Morrisons, which has been the laggard of the traditional grocers in recent times.
Its market share has dropped from 9.1% to 8.6% over the past year, according to Kantar – as it performed worse than Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda – and it was booted out of UK grocery’s Big Four when Aldi leapfrogged it.
An international flavour
Baitiéh brings a wealth of international experience to Morrisons, after a career spent working across Carrefour’s many territories.
The exec was born in Lebanon and moved to France to attend university, where he graduated from the Compiègne Ecole Supérieure de Commerce business school.
He also has two MBAs from the University of Québec and the Warsaw central business school.
The international flavour does not end there. Baitiéh has led Carrefour’s divisions in Taiwan, Argentina and Spain before taking the reins as boss of the grocery giant’s domestic business in France in June 2020.
Although Morrisons trades only in the UK, aside from one store in the ex-pat haven of Gibraltar, Baitiéh’s experience is still valid.
Leahy says although Baitiéh had “not operated in the UK context”, he insists his “instincts” were the same as Potts’.
“Like David, he’s a retailer. Rami has a similar background but a fresh pair of eyes.”
And French grocery retail is considered to be the best in the world, as any visitor to a supermarket in the country will testify.
Baitiéh was keen to point out his understanding of the Morrisons business and what makes it unique: “Morrisons holds a special place for shoppers across the UK, and I am honoured to be joining the business to help build on the strong links the company has with its loyal customers and the communities where it operates.
“As a manufacturer, wholesaler and seller of food, Morrisons is uniquely positioned to grow in the coming years while remaining deeply focused on customer satisfaction”.
Close to the customer
Baitiéh is a customer-centric leader and believes grocers need to have a deep understanding of their shoppers to be able to adapt to new behaviours.
He said in an interview with retail consultancy Oliver Wyman last year: “Customers must be our top priority because the customer is the real boss of the company.”
“Customers are saying, ‘I’m changing, and I want you to change with me.’ We need to understand every category of customer.”
He believes that retailers need to solve customer problems, be that improving availability, or shortening wait times at the checkout, and also respond to new shopping behaviours.
At Carrefour France, he identified 16 categories or customers and sought to address their needs with a tailored response.
“We do not offer them the same discounts, offers, and organic ranges,” he said, citing an example of halting catalogues in stores that had a younger demographic, yet retaining them in other sites with older shoppers.
As UK shopping behaviour changes dramatically amid the cost-of-living crisis, keeping close to the customer will be key.
Baitiéh has been battling inflation at Carrefour France in recent times but his wider international experience will bring him greater insight into trading in this marketplace that should benefit Morrisons as it has struggled to maintain market share of late.
Baitiéh told Oliver Wyman: “Carrefour…has strong experience in countries with high inflation like Brazil or Argentina. Carrefour is fully committed to protecting its customers’ purchasing power, while continuing to reinforce its economic model.”
“Defending consumer prices and ensuring a reliable supply of essential goods is a key role. We have to play it, and we always will.”
He has also been battling Aldi and Lidl, which are both making inroads in the French grocery market. Defending its position against the discounters will be critical to Morrisons’ success.
Bolstering digital and convenience
Baitiéh also comes from a more advanced grocery ecommerce market, with click-and-collect particularly popular.
Carrefour operates its Drive format solely for this audience and dominates online traffic across the French grocery sector. In fact, Baitiéh has said that it wants to be the “best digital retail company”.
With ecommerce in UK grocery faltering of late, his experience will be invaluable to help Morrisons build their omnichannel proposition.
Leahy says: “Rami will bring energy, innovation, and dedication to expanding Morrisons loyalty programmes and digital reach, while ensuring that the company’s long legacy of quality, and mission to deliver value for shoppers is preserved.”
Another area the incoming CEO will be expected to propel is convenience. Morrisons has jumped feet first into the fast-growing sector with its acquisition of McColl’s in May last year.
It is rapidly converting the convenience chain’s stores to Morrisons Daily and currently has 607 shops.
However, the c-store market is fiercely competitive.
Baitiéh has much experience in this sector with the Carrefour Bio, Contact, Express and City formats which total more than 4,000 shops putting the c-store expansion in safe hands.
Much like Potts, Baitiéh is also passionate about people and told Oliver Wyman last year that “people — customers, employees, and suppliers — are at the core of our activities”.
Even in his quest for digital excellence, he insisted that “we have to put people at the centre of what we do”.
Morrisons has always been a people-centric business, and his approach should hearten those in its Bradford head office, stores and across its supply chain.
Although Baitiéh will clearly have ambitions to grow Morrisons market share, Leahy hints that it will be evolution, not revolution from the new CEO.
Lest not forget, Potts did help drive a successful turnaround at Morrisons before its recent wobbles.
Respected grocery analyst, Shore Capital director Dr Clive Black calls Potts, an ardent Manchester City fan, “Champions League material” in terms of the British grocery sector.
Morrisons will be hoping for another strong captain in Baitiéh.
“It might be a new chapter but it’s the same story,” Leahy says.
Through his focus on people and customers, Baitiéh is not only taking a page out of Potts’ book but that of Ken Morrison before him.
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