Is there room for a Morrisons on your corner? The Bradford-based grocer is about to trial 50 pilot 'corner' M Local stores in the style of Sainsbury's Local or Tesco Metro stores in an attempt to bolster its share of this growing market.

Morrisons claims such pilots will offer something different. Will it be different enough?

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Fresh and convenient?

Morrisons claims an emphasis on fresh food and cooking will make their offering stand out; more than 50% of store space will be dedicated to fresh food, significantly more than the industry average of 36% it says.

"We offer a broad range of 2,500 lines including over 100 fruit and vegetable products, a broad range of meat, fish, bakery and deli as well as freshly prepared sandwiches. Although we are still trialling these formats the results to date have been ahead of our expectations, with very positive customer feedback."

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Perhaps. Morrisons has been buoyed by strong full-year results, surprising the City. 12-month sales were 7% up while pre-tax profits climbed 8% to almost £950m. Crucially, like-for-like sales - sales not including recently opened stores which can artificially inflate underlying sales - rose 1.8%.

£1 in every £5

Some of this success is down to UK shoppers being more frugal and cost-conscious, gaining market share at the expense of Tesco. Consumers are more willing to shop around, which probably plays to Morrisons 'value' bias. It recently launched its Savers range to replace the previous Value offering, which looks slightly smarter but still keeps the value emphasis.

Interestingly, while some supermarkets have expanded non-food lines significantly - Tesco and Sainsbury's - this is exactly where the consumer slowdown has been significant.

However Tesco has well over 1,300 smaller convenience stores while Sainsbury's has more than 400. That's a lot of competition when you're starting out from almost scratch. But these stores increasingly represent £1 in every £5 spent on groceries, and is growing fast. Morrisons needs to be in this space.

Changes in price since the 1977 Jubilee


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