The retailer, which has been hit hard by the rise of the discounters, will give customers using its ‘Match & More’ scheme points on products if they can be found cheaper at another of the big four or the discounters.
If a comparable grocery shop is cheaper at Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury or Asda, consumers will receive the difference back in points, it said.
‘Lowering prices’
“In May, we announced that we were lowering our prices permanently,” said Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons.
“Now we’re launching Match & More, the most comprehensive price match and points scheme in the UK.”
Comparable prices would be collected by the independent research group Profitero and would cover branded and own-label products, as well as items on promotion elsewhere, said Dalton.
As an example of how the scheme would work, he said: “If Lidl is the cheapest and is 60p cheaper than Morrisons, then 600 points are added to your Match & More account.”
Customers would then be able to redeem their points in multiples of £5 (or 5,000 points) and use them in store.
‘Learned from others’
“We have learned from other price match programmes so our customers will not collect lots of small vouchers or have to redeem them through a website when they get home from their shop,” Dalton added.
Last month, the chain revealed half-year profits down by more than 30%, as a result of sharper competition from the discounters.
Pre-tax profits for the six months to August 3 slumped to £239M, compared to £344M for the same period the previous year.
Commenting on the company’s interim results, analysts said Morrisons’ business strategy was balanced on a knife-edge.