Roughly 100 positions are at risk at Morrisons’ head office, under a restructure of its convenience and general merchandise teams.
The plans will see the retailer’s Morrisons Daily commercial and support functions, which are currently separate from its supermarket trading team, combined into one single division, The Grocer understands. The move will effectively axe the business’s convenience buying team.
Morrisons’ convenience stores will now form part of its retail arm, under group retail director Martin Dawson. Its convenience buying and commercial functions will be housed under group trading director Andrew Staniland as part of a central buying team.
Morrisons is also moving support functions for its general merchandise arm, from its Hilmore House HQ in Bradford to a new standalone office in Warrington.
Moving to the northwest would put the supermarket’s general merchandise business nearer to its suppliers in the region, Morrisons said.
All of its existing general merchandise functions in Bradford will shut when the new office opens later in the year.
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A Morrisons spokesperson said: “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.
“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.”
They continued: “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.”
The majority of the more than 100 positions will be from the retailer’s convenience functions, The Grocer understands.
The spokesperson added: “Unfortunately, the proposals will result in a number of roles being put at risk of redundancy as we integrate tasks into a single team, and we will now commence a consultancy process with impacted colleagues.
“We understand this will be difficult news for them and will be offering them our full support, including helping them to find alternative roles elsewhere in the business wherever we can.”
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