Morrisons Taste Test to dictate shelf display

By Harpers Editorial

Published: 14 March, 2013

Morrisons is four weeks into a trial that has completely remerchandised its wine department to arrange the wines on shelf according to their tasting profiles.

The trial at its Bradford Enterprise 5 store in Idle, also has in-store leaflets and trained BWS staff to guide customers.
Morrisons exclusively licensed the Taste Test for the grocery sector from Bibendum when it launched Morrisons Cellar online last year.

The test asks three questions about consumers' favourite hot drink, whether they like sugar in soft drinks and if they like salt. The answers allocate them a number from 0 to 12, which puts them within one of four profiles sweet (0-3), fresh (4-6), smooth (7-9) or intense (10-12).

"Over the coming weeks the results of this 12-week trial will determine the route we take in further stores. The anecdotal feedback we've gathered so far via our BWS managers has been predominately positive with customers enthused and interested," wine trading manager Andrew Turner told Harpers.

"There are no trading figures to share yet as we've still eight weeks to go on the trial and next steps will depend on the overall result of the trial."

The trial is the latest innovation from the supermarket, which last week made two appointments to newly created roles to improve its multi-channel wine offering.

It has hired Mark Jarman as head of wine operations, to focus on building quality and new product development; and Clive Donaldson as wine sourcing manager.

Part of Jarman's brief includes setting up a UK bottling operation. The plan would make Morrisons the first supermarket to own its own bottling plant and is it keeping with its vertical integration model.

It has long owned abattoirs and meat processing plants and has recently stepped up its supply chain integration through the purchase of flower wholesaler Flower World in July 2011 and opening a fish processing plant in Grimsby in September.

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