Introduction
Markets all over the world are striving to recover out of the gloom of the recession. However, in the United Kingdom many markets have indicated relative resiliency in the recovery process. Hence, this implies contraction in the economy resulting to unemployment and reduced consumer expenditure as a result of a decrease in disposable income. Consumer spending and buoyancy have been relatively low as a result of unfavourable demands brought about by implementation of rigorous monetary and fiscal government policies. For the last few decades, companies have witnessed severe effects of the recession; hence they had to develop new strategies aimed at retaining existing customers while at the same time soliciting new customers. Morrison Supermarkets (WM) has been a successful venture despite all the economic downturns that have led to the failure of large scale corporate businesses. The company has remained profitable and competitive while its competitors and other businesses operating in the same industry have greatly struggled to survive in the market.
Background
Morrison Supermarket was pioneered in 1899 by William Morrison in Bradford as a small business that served as an egg, as well as butter stall. Despite company starting from a humble beginning, it expanded rapidly in terms of its product portfolio, its structure and size. In 1967, the company had grown significantly and first listed on the LSE (London Stock Exchange). In 2008, Morrison supermarkets accounted for 11.8 percent of the entire share of retail supermarkets and was ranked the fourth smallest company of the big “four” supermarkets. However, the company has predominantly in Northern England until 2004 when it expanded its operations in the southern region of the United Kingdom after it acquired Safeway superstores. Since then, Morrison Supermarket has continued to develop significantly and