Morrisons commits to four-year IT transformation programme

IT improvements expected to deliver greater efficiencies at supermarket chain

Morrisons will introduce improvements to its supply chain systems during 2009

Supermarket chain Morrisons released upbeat financial results for 2008 and committed to a major IT transformation programme that will streamline operations over the next four years.

The replacement of legacy systems will be a key element of the firm’s optimisation plan, which also aims to improve the business infrastructure in manufacturing and distribution. This part of the programme is expected to be complete by 2010.

IT projects carried out to date include customer-facing initiatives such as self-scan checkouts – now operational in more than half of Morrison’s store network.

A queue-management system, which predicts the number of tills required to be open to serve the customers in store, is also at an advanced implementation stage.

In the back end, the group said it is already reaping the benefits of its IT improvement scheme through new systems that have improved the efficiency of delivery schedules.

During 2009, Morrisons expects to continue its systems replacement programme, which started in late 2008. Indian supplier Wipro is supporting the process, which has already seen the start of a trial for a new human resources and payroll system, scheduled to go live this year.

Over the coming months, the supermarket chain will roll out new financial and depot systems and will also start the implementation of the new point-of-sale systems into stores.

In 2010, Morrison plans to replace systems in use at its manufacturing facilities, as well as its product masterfile and supply chain.

Full-year sales at Morrisons rose to £14.5bn – a 12 per cent increase on the previous year. But profits dipped by 17 per cent to £460m as its tax bill for the year tripled.