Morrisons posted group like-for-like sales of +3.9% in its second quarter (Q2) trading update issued earlier today. The supermarket said it had “bounced back” from a cyber attack that had impacted its Christmas sales, even against a “challenging” economic backdrop and “subdued consumer sentiment.”

The cyber attack at tech provider Blue Yonder had forced Morrisons to shut down its warehouse management system in November. This has left the supermarket without stock visibility across fresh and produce inventory, which reduced product availability and impacted Christmas trading.

“Morrisons has bounced back strongly from the disruption of the Blue Yonder cyber attack in November 2024 with like-for-like sales growth of +3.9% in the second quarter,” Morrisons’ Chief Executive, Rami Baitiéh, said.

Responding to customers’ need for value

“Against the backdrop of a challenging macro environment, with inflation driving subdued consumer sentiment, value remains at the forefront of customers’ minds,” Baitiéh added.

In response, Morrisons had focused on delivering value to its customers by focusing on pricing, promotions and “meaningful rewards” for loyalty.

Back in May, for example, Morrisons expanded its More Card loyalty scheme by launching More Partner Points. This allows customers to earn points when shopping not only at Morrisons, but also across a wider range of 300 partner brands including eBay, Very, Just Eat, Expedia and ASOS.

Modernisation of Morrisons at pace

Baitiéh also pointed to the progress made on the “renewal and modernisation” of Morrisons which was delivered in Q2, with successful in-store trials of new initiatives, helping “Morrisons’ fresh food strengths and outstanding value shine through strongly.”

These included a more focused range, improvements to Market Street with Farm Shop influences and additional added-value products as well as a new World Foods offer.

Separately, it had also announced investment in store tech back in April, saying it would extend its partnership with NCR Voyix to replace legacy point-of-sale (POS) technology with POS powered by the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform to almost 500 stores in a five-year contract.

Morrisons Daily growth expand Morrisons’ convenience offer

Morrisons also reported strong growth in convenience; 42 franchise stores openings in Q2 brought the total number of Morrisons Daily stores to over 1,700.

“We made strong progress with the expansion of Morrisons Daily… and we see potential for hundreds more franchise-owned stores as we expand further in the growing and fragmented convenience market,” said Baitiéh.