Customers rule at Morrisons - the five key changes introduced by new boss Potts

​Mr Potts has visited 100 stores since he joined the Bradford-based firm three months ago and said he will be guided by what customers and colleagues say the supermarket chain should be doing.

So far he has introduced five key changes, most of which have gone done well with customers. They include:

1. Axing the majority of the management team he inherited a week after joining.

2. Cutting head office staff by 720, while adding 5,000 shop floor staff to improve customer service.

3. Bringing back​ staffed express checkouts.

4. Getting rid of the overly complex computerised queue management system.

5. Removing the controversial misting machines, which were seen as a sign of just how profligate the previous management team had become.​

​Mr Potts’ moves to take the store back to basics have won the approval of the founder’s son and former boss Sir Ken Morrison.

He said that the drive to “rediscover Morrisons’ identity” has been welcomed by Sir Ken.

“I am especially fortunate to still be able to call on the wisdom and experience of man with such stature in the industry,” he said of his predecessor.

Analyst Clive Black at Shore capital said: “Morrisons has embarked upon substantial change aimed at improving its customers shopping trip.

“It is clearly still very early days in Mr. Potts’ tenure but we sense he is bringing a deep rooted and fundamental change to Morrisons that is for the better.

Morrisons said it ​expects underlying ​annual ​​pre-tax ​profit ​will be higher in the second half than the first.