WHEN I had a pop at Asda’s failings last year I contrasted its performance to that of fellow Yorkshire supermarket Morrisons.
Under chief executive David Potts, Morriebobs, as it is sometimes affectionately called by shoppers, is getting back to the glory days it had when run by the late Sir Ken Morrison.
Potts is a retailer who is looking to keep prices low, improve the way staff deal with customers and get more goods on the shelves that people want to buy.
Simples. As a meerkat I know often says.
But it is amazing how sometimes the weight of responsibility of running a big firm often clouds the judgement of those at the top.
A bit like turning an oil tanker in a rough sea, they don’t act until it is far too late.
Potts’ back to basics approach helped Morrisons deliver a 2.8% increase in like-for-like retail sales over the six weeks to January 7 whilst also keeping prices down where they were last year despite inflation.
The Potts’ approach isn’t rocket science, just the same thing that helped Sir Ken transform his mum’s egg and butter stall on Bradford market and turn it into Britain’s fourth biggest grocery chain.
But David Potts’ predecessors couldn’t do it and all the evidence points to successive bosses at Asda struggling to embrace the approach too.
Unlike it’s rivals like Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, Asda is not listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is owned by the world’s biggest retailer, American monolith Walmart.
That means it doesn’t have to announce detailed Christmas trading figures. In the past I remember it used to just talk about “high single digit growth” but I suspect it might just avoid any announcement given new “president” Roger Burnley has only recently taken the reins.
From what I hear, Burnley is a genuine guy and good retailer who understands Asda and what its customers want.
He supports Huddersfield Town so he should have a feet-on-the-ground common sense approach.
But it will take him some time to get to grips with the business, which has been moribund, rather than Morriebobs, for far too long.
That probably points to why on the day that David Potts was announcing the numbers that made Morrisons one of the big festive retail winners, Asda was making more people, this time from its property arm, redundant.
And while Morrisons is expected to announce a 10% increase in annual profits to £371m later this year I suspect we will have to wait a little longer to get some positive news from its Yorkshire-based rival.
What particularly impressed me about the news from Morrisons was that there was no sense of triumph about the announcement, just a down-to-earth, sleeves rolled up approach which said the numbers were achieved because the company was “selling more things that people want to buy” rather than squeezing suppliers or denting margins.
When you think about it, that’s what every great retailer, from Del-boy Trotter to Arkwright in his corner shop to Archie Norman and Allan Leighton in the Asda glory years and Sir Ken himself, always focused on.
The Morrisons chief executive praised store colleagues for their hard work over the festive season and said customers had noticed shorter queues and the friendliness of staff.
Sir Ken would be nodding in approval.
Potts has simplified Morrisons’ store layouts and cut back promotions in favour of lower prices as well as making sure there are more staff on the shop floor to help customers.
Sir Gary Verity of Welcome to Yorkshire was only telling me last week that he met David Potts at Morrisons in Skipton, one of its newly laid out stores.
Gary was very impressed by both Potts and, indeed by the store, so much so he recommended I should take my girlfriend there for a trip out.
Steady on.
She’ll have to wait for that.
We’re doing Greenwoods menswear store in Cleckheaton first.
I need some new Y-fronts. You know the type, those with the contrast colour gusset.
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MY mention last week of the upcoming Big Ticket event to celebrate the Yorkshire corporate finance and business community and raise a lot of money for the amazing Maggie’s charity received a great response.
What is interesting is that some big dealmakers from private equity firms based in London and Manchester have taken tickets to the event on February 1 at The Wardrobe in Leeds.
It is great that they are supporting the Big Ticket, which will support the Maggie’s charity which is building its first centre in Yorkshire for cancer patients and their families at St James’ Hospital in Leeds, but it is also a reflection of the opportunities they see to invest in businesses in the region and build relationships with talented members of the corporate finance community who can help make that happen.
No awards, no speeches, no black tie, no tasteless chicken dinner – just a live band, street food, a well stocked bar and great company.
Back by popular demand are Belfast duo Disco Beard who are a bit like Ed Sheeran mets Eminem.
More details below or drop me a line if you’d like some tickets.
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A RECENT survey of staff working for MPs at the House of Commons had some disturbing findings about bullying and sexual harassment of some of those people who work in the corridors of power.
A radio report I heard then went on to talk about other allegations of “bullying” including the example of one unnamed Member of Parliament who threw stationery around his or her office.
When I worked in newspapers screwed up pieces of paper used to fly by your ears on a regular basis – either thrown at you by a colleague or hit by fellow journalists taking part in an impromptu game of office cricket during a quiet time in the news cycle.
I once worked at a newspaper where the editor emerged from his office after a long lunch and hurled a tomahawk at one of his journalists.
To be fair it was plastic and didn’t do as much damage as the Christmas party at a Greek restaurant when the editor and his cronies decided that they were bored of smashing plates against the wall and decided to break them over the office junior’s head.
I was in charge of filling the staff newspaper – barely one step up from office junior – at the time and the episode gave me my front page story even if the newspaper staff getting a permanent ban from the Greek restaurant was something I decided to omit.
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I ALWAYS try and squeeze as much humour as I can into this blog in a bid to cheer up readers on a Friday ahead of the weekend.
Well don’t take a vote on it.
Please yourselves.
My point being that I have to admit I missed an opportunity for an extra titter last week.
In a piece about going to a panto featuring former topless model Linda Lusardi and then getting a text from my pal Ed Wood telling me on which page he featured in the Guinness Book of Records there was an opportunity pointed out by reader Ken Sturdy, managing director of fast growing Hull-based business IT@Spectrum.
“Ed – ‘page 12, bottom left’. Linda – ‘page 3’!”
Have a great weekend.