Morrisons Ajusts to New ‘Dawn and Dusk’ Shopper
New research has established the emergence of a ‘dawn and dusk’ shopper, with one in five consumers now regularly shopping before 9am in the morning and after 8pm at night. UK grocery group Morrisons is responding to the growing trend by introducing an extra 1,600 hours of trading a week – with 230 stores moving to between 6am and 11pm UK-wide.
Twenty per cent of shoppers now usually visit a store between 6-9am or 8pm-11pm. Just under half of these early morning or late evening shoppers say they prefer these ‘quieter’ times. Almost a quarter (24%) claim it better suits their working hours, and one in 20 say they want to put kids to bed before heading down to store. The motivation behind shopper visits at later times varied, with 22% doing their regular weekly shop, 18% picking up food for that evening’s meals and 15% making trips for forgotten items.
Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, says: “Modern family life, flexible working hours and busy schedules mean customers want to shop earlier and later. Therefore we need to be open for longer. The extension of our opening hours is one of many changes we are making – to make shopping trips easier at our stores.”
The activity forms part of a significant investment programme to make shopping trips easier for customers. Additional improvements include the removal of trolley locks, the redesign of over 277 store layouts, the refurbishment of store cafes, the building of new petrol stations, the refurbishment of baby change and toilet facilities, and the updating of car park controls.
