Morrisons celebrates net gains after launching online deliveries

The firm said all its delivery slots sold out yesterday and it looks like today will be the same. Simon Thompson, Morrisons’ managing director for online food, said: “It has been wonderful delivering to Morrisons customers in our heartland.

“They certainly appeared pleased to see us on their doorstep.

“Operationally it has been a very good day and we look forward to many more like it.”

Mr Thompson spent the day in a van talking to customers and made 16 deliveries in the Holmfirth, Wakefield and Sheffield areas.

Of his 16 deliveries, nine were carried out within the delivery window and seven were ahead of time. Of the customers, 15 had previously ordered food online from competitors and one customer was brand new to online.

Much is expected of the Bradford-based chain’s first foray into home delivery after a month-long trial in the Midlands.

Morrisons lags its three main rivals, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, in being the last to launch an online service. But chief executive Dalton Philips has promised that state-of-the-art technology provided by its delivery partner Ocado will enable it to outperform rivals.

The service will cover just under two million households in Yorkshire.

Morrisons expects to be covering 50 per cent of the country by the beginning of 2015 and it will launch in London this summer.

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