29th Jan 2014 12:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Wm Morrison Supermarket PLC's newly employed online operations director, George Dymond, has resigned after just weeks into the job, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to Alliance News on Wednesday.
Dymond was hired at the beginning of January by Bradford-based Morrisons from the Australian retailer Coles Group Ltd, to oversee its new online operations, which also only launched at the beginning of the year.
The UK's fourth-largest supermarket chain started the fledgling online service in an attempt to catch up with bigger rivals Tesco PLC and J Sainsbury PLC, which have been reaping the benefits of booming sales from smaller convenience stores and online businesses.
Among the UK's major grocers, Morrison was the worse hit over the Christmas period, having issued a profit warning after reporting a steep decline in sales, highlighted by heavy discounting. In its Christmas trading update on January 9, the supermarket chain said it now expects its profit for the full year at the bottom end of expectations.
Morrison said in the six weeks to January 5, total sales excluding fuel were down 1.9%, and declined by 3.3% including fuel. On a like-for-like basis sales fell even further, declining by 5.6% excluding fuel, and down by a huge 7.1% including fuel.
"The difficult market conditions were intensified for Morrisons by the accelerating importance of the online and convenience channels, where Morrisons is currently under-represented, and by targeted couponing which was particularly prevalent in the market this Christmas," the supermarket said in its trading update on January 9.
Morrison finally launched its online food business at the end of December, and started deliveries across the Midlands on January 10. It is hoping to reach half of UK households by the end of the year but is still lagging far behind its online rivals.
The supermarket chain also said earlier in the month that the roll-out of convenience stores continues at pace, with 85 now open, and with a target of 200 by the end of financial year.
Morrison shares were down 0.3% at 242.40 pence per share at midday Wednesday.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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