Morrisons boss Dalton Philips held up the supermarket’s new Graffiti aubergine as an example of a “simple breakthrough retail needs”.
Speaking to delegates at the IGD Convention on Tuesday, Philips said supermarkets and suppliers need to find costless innovations for consumers.
He said: “The Ford Model T was a simple breakthrough. For years you could have any colour aubergine you liked as long as it was black. We have just brought in the Graffiti aubergine and it does not cost a single penny more… we have got to find those breakthroughs that are affordable and do not cost any more.”
In an energetic speech in which Philips described the squeeze on consumer spending by snapping a cucumber on stage, the Morrisons chief executive said the new M Local stores were “the best in the world for convenience”.
A wide-ranging presentation championed the fact fresh produce costs the same in convenience as supermarket stores and emphasised the fact that 51 per cent of Morrisons shoppers check the price of every item.
Philips said a lot had been done with the supermarket’s Big Price Crunch and said it was “so big other retailers have been using the word ‘big’ recently” in a jibe at Tesco’s Big Price Drop.
He added that the purchase of a stake in internet grocer FreshDirect would give the supermarket an insight into the world’s “best profitable fresh food online retailer”.
At the same event, Asda president and CEO Andy Clarke said it is “on time, on track and on budget” in its project to convert Netto stores. “With Netto we could have taken the easy route and opened smaller stores offering products at higher prices,” he said.
Clarke praised the retailer’s work on supply, technology, distribution and construction in offering products at the same price in the new Netto stores as larger Asda outlets.
Sales are 45 per cent higher than they were as a Netto store on average.
Asda’s Chosen By You own brand now makes up 40 per cent of its food sales, overtaking Sainsbury’s own brand for the first time.
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