Morrisons cuts prices on 135 more products

Morrisons has kicked off a second round of price cuts, less than two months after lowering prices on 1,200 lines.

The supermarket said today it was cutting prices on 135 everyday grocery and household items, split evenly between own-label and brand-name products. Some lines will be cut by up to 40%, with an average reduction of 14% across the range.

“This is another major price reduction programme,” said CEO Dalton Philips. “We are making a real difference to the cost of the weekly family shop by reducing prices on products that our customers use regularly. These are permanent price cuts, not promotions, and they won’t be the last.”

The latest round of cuts includes own-brand peeled plum tomatoes, down 30% to 39p; own-label oven chips, down 13% to £1; and Flash bleach spray, down 25% to £1.50.

The 135 new prices will be added to Morrisons’ Price Checker website, which launched at the end of May and provides the pricing history of the products in the retailer’s I’m Cheaper campaign.

On 1 May, Philips announced the supermarket would be cutting the price of 1,200 everyday essentials in a bid to take on the discounters. It launched a marketing blitz under the strapline “I’m your new cheaper Morrisons”.

The supermarket has been under renewed pressure since announcing a 7.1% fall in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in May. Last week, it said it would make 2,600 in-store managers redundant in an effort to simplify its management structure.