Yorkshire-based Morrisons is to launch a no-nonsense clothes brand from the spring tagged Nutmeg. It's the supermarket's first foray into clothing, an area that rivals like Asda and Tesco have taken up with gusto - though not without hiccups.

Morrisons has shown it can get pies right. But can it do fashion?

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Tough market

It's unlikely because they're not doing fashion, strictly speaking. Morrisons aims to supply basic kids' togs and adult basics, some distance from the fancier ambitions of Zara and Primark - not to mention Asda's George fashion label. One City analyst said that supermarket fashion is very hard to get right.

"It's quite difficult to make money also. Clothes can carry higher margins than food but higher mark-downs do come with the territory. George [Asda] has been the most successful, but it's difficult to track how well they're doing beyond the PR spin." It's also, too, an increasingly mature market, making quick gains harder.

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Sales pressure

Morrisons has hired ex-Peacocks managing director Tim Bettley as clothing director who will head a buying and design team of 50. The move is needed as Morrisons third quarter numbers emerge later this week - there are predictions of a 1% dip in like-for-like sales.

"We want to offer a different approach from other supermarkets with simple hard-wearing fashion that is easy for customers to pick up while they are doing their food shop," Bettley said in a press release. It's thought the Nutmeg range will debut in around 100 Morrisons stores from March.

Tesco and Sainsbury's will be watching closely. Non-food is increasingly important for retailers, witness sales campaigns from Sainsbury's supported by Gok Wan. Recent Kantar Worldpanel supermarket figures showed that for the 12 weeks ending 30 September, Sainsbury's bagged the strongest growth of 5.6%, lifting its share from 16.2% a year ago to 16.5%.

10 biggest companies in the world

  • 1. Walmart
    <p> Wal-Mart Stores, or Walmart, is an American retailer that runs chains of discount department and warehouse stores around the world.</p> <p> The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and first traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas and has around 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names.</p>
    1. Walmart
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    <p> Royal Dutch Shell, more commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in Holland, but with its registered office in London.</p> <p> With operations in more than 90 countries, it is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.</p>
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    <p> Exxon Mobil Corporation, or ExxonMobil, is an American oil and gas corporation formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas.</p> <p> With 37 oil refineries in 21 countries, Exxon Mobil Corporation is the largest refiner in the world.</p>
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    <p> BP is yet another global oil and gas company, this time headquartered in London. It has operations in more than 80 countries, produces about 3.8 million barrels of oil per day and has 22,400 service stations worldwide.</p> <p> The name BP is derived from the initials of one of the company's former legal names, British Petroleum.</p>
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    10. Chevron


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