Environmental and SWOT Analysis of Morrisons Supermarket

This report provides an environmental and SWOT analysis of Morrisons Supermarket, the fourth largest supermarket chain in the UK. It includes a discussion of the macro and micro environmental factors that affect the organization, as well as a SWOT analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

MS4UK41O PRINCIPLES
OF MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Environmental analysis (Macro- Micro)-....................................................................................3
SWOT analysis of Morrisons ......................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The principles of marketing are the components that are used to make an effective
marketing mix for an organization. These principles include product, place, price and promotion.
The current report analyse the macro and micro environmental factors that influence the
organization and its business in the market. A swot analysis of the market to summarize the
issues in the external and internal analysis. The present report aims at concluding the issues that
the organization may face in the market and provides recommendations based on issues
identified in the swot analysis and environmental analysis. The Morrisons is the fourth largest
supermarket chain in the United Kingdom headquartered in Bradford, England (Jones and
Comfort, 2018.). The organization is the smallest among the big four retailers and aims at
progressing at higher levels in the future since last decade. It looks for sustainable business
development and strengthen itself in the competitive market.
MAIN BODY
Environmental analysis (Macro- Micro)-
The environmental analysis of an organization can be defined as the internal and external
factors that affect the business operations of the company in the market (Huang and et.al., 2021).
The internal factors include-
Product issues- Morrisons has been facing these issues at a number of occasions in the
past. Sometimes it is due to hygiene and packaging and sometimes because of quality (Ogundijo,
Tas and Onarinde, 2021). Product issues also grow due the available substitutes in the market
and the tendency of consumers to compare them with each other.
Marketing issues- The organization relies on the traditional marketing methods and does
not acquire a modern marketing function. This issue rises due to the impact of competitors in the
market and their marketing strategies affect the market share of the organization.
Management issues- The organization has almost 97 percent reach in the UK market but
maintaining such a big database has been challenging for the organization. Packaging and
managing the products and maintaining the supply chain for more than 500 stores requires a top
level of management function.
The external factors that influence Morrisons supermarket are-
Political factors- It includes the government regulations and deregulations that impact
the business of the organization. The political condition of UK is quite stable and its regulatory

practices are sleek with global norms which have helped the country in maintaining its 'ease of
doing business environment'.
Economic factors- The income levels of the people have increased consistently since last
few years. The organization may implement a differentiated marketing campaign considering the
current market trend (Merritt and Zhao, 2021). The inflation rate, foreign exchange rate etc. are
some economic factors that may impact the organization.
Social factors- The culture of the society and the style of doing things highly impacts the
organization in the market (Zhao and Dou, 2019, March). The components of the social factors
includes the societal norms, social cultures and awareness, education levels, birth rate and
people's attitude towards the government and spending behaviour.
Environmental factors- Various markets may have different environmental norms that
may impact the business operations of Morrisons. These factors may sometimes become very
crucial for the organization. These are the local environmental laws, climate, pollution limits,
recycling policies, banned materials, waste management, corporate social responsibilities etc.
Legal factors- These factors can be defined as the legal frameworks that govern the
business environment and the operations of the organization in the market. The legal factors that
can influence the Morrison are consumer protection laws, business laws, trade policies,
employee laws, health and safety laws etc.
Technological factors- These are the fastest growing business models across various
industries (Merritt and Zhao, 2021). Morrison is among the top tech- equipped industries in retail
business and the current trends that impact the macro environment are development of AI, big
data analysis and rising service providers, E- commerce etc.
Morrisons's biggest competitors are Sainsbury, Ocado and South-eastern Grocers.
Morrisons's share in the UK's retail industry is around 10 percent and is sits at fourth position in
the market. It has been facing continuous competition in the market especially from Sainsbury
and Aldi.
SWOT analysis of Morrisons
The SWOT analysis of an organization analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats of that organization (Soegoto, 2021). For summarizing the issues in the external and

internal environment, a SWOT analysis of Morrisons can be performed that can enable the
company to measure its business and performance against other competitors in the market.
Strengths- Morrisons has an efficient supply chain and a large network of distribution
that expands all over UK and beyond. It offers wide range of products such as groceries, food,
beverages and fashion products. It is the fourth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom
and holds around 10 percent of share in the retail market. Being one of the oldest brands, it has
over 500 stores in UK and employees over 130,000 people in its function. It is one of the biggest
brands in retail and has established itself with outstanding accession in the past (Soegoto, 2021).
It has maintained a positive image in the market and a big reputation in the sector since years and
has shown a positive customer experience in the market. It has a big budget for any kind of
investments and maintenance due to its high revenue.
Weakness- Morrisons operates in a limited geographical area that puts the organization
behind its competitors in the market. As compared to other big brands, Morrisons has a limited
reach in the market and hence the customer base is also limited. Alleged past issues pertaining to
farmer rights effected the brand image of the company and issues such as Brexit impacted the
business of the organization as well. The company does not benefit from international sales
compared to its competitors that serve at global level. A recent study identified the poor
customer satisfaction in the market and the company was voted as one of the worst retail chains
indicating a high need of improvement.
Opportunities- The company may consider the organic products and their growing
demand in the market. It may also look for new markets at global level to boost its business. It
may take advantage of online channels and E- commerce to reach new markets expand its
business (Soegoto, 2021). The UK retail business is likely to grow rapidly due to the new trade
deals and agreements of the UK government at international level and it may prove to be a
chance for Morrisons to expand internationally.
Threats- The UK retail retail business is being dominated by three big giants- Tesco,
Asda and Sainsbury putting Morrisons at the fourth place. Although it has been facing serious
competition from Aldi, Co-op etc. that seems to be capable of disturbing Morrisons in the future.
Morrisons already had past issues related to hygiene and quality and hence, other brands in the
market may take advantage of these negative incidents of the organization. The increasing

competition in the market and tax policies are becoming a big threat for the organization since
last few years.
Morrisons is one of the popular names in the British retail industry. In the 2020/21
financial year, it generated a turnover of around 17 billion pounds, making it one of the most
profitable company. It posses a major share in the UK retain market. But on the other hand, in a
recent survey, it was placed 9th out of 10 in terms of customer satisfaction.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that Morrisons is one of the consistently
growing brand in the retail industry of UK but has been facing continuous challenges in the
market because of various internal and external factors. Though the external factors do not seem
to be big issues but the internal factors has been concerning for the organization. The
organization has a lot of opportunities in front of it but are aligned with various threats in the
market. It is a well- established organization and possess a good share in the market but its
market policies and approaches always creates new challenges in the market. The report also
concludes the micro and macro environmental factors that favour and challenge a business the
missions and visions of the organization considering the present market situation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The organization may plan strategies to expand its geographical business area to stay
strong against its competitors (RASHID, 2020). The rise of new competitors may reduce the
market share of the organization and to counter this problem, it may look to target new audience
in the market and even market itself beyond the present boundaries and improve its profitability.
It may also focus on the hygiene and packaging function and the quality of its goods and services
compared to other brands in the industry. The organization may study and analyse other brands
in the market and identify the threats it may face in the future. This can help the company to plan
appropriate strategies to counter competitions in the market and strengthen its position in the
market (Piernas, Harmer and Jebb, 2022). The use of technology, advanced marketing channels,
collaborations with other brands etc. may fortify the business as well.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Huang, I.Y. and et.al., 2021. Food waste management: A review of retailers’ business practices
and their implications for sustainable value. Journal of Cleaner Production. 285.
p.125484.
Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2018. Storytelling and corporate social responsibility reporting: A
case study of leading UK retailers. European Journal of Sustainable Development
Research. 2(4). pp.1-11.
Merritt, K. and Zhao, S., 2021. An innovative reflection based on critically applying ux design
principles. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity. 7(2).
p.129.
Ogundijo, D.A., Tas, A.A. and Onarinde, B.A., 2021. An assessment of nutrition information on
front of pack labels and healthiness of foods in the United Kingdom retail market. BMC
Public Health. 21(1). pp.1-10.
Piernas, C., Harmer, G. and Jebb, S.A., 2022. Testing availability, positioning, promotions, and
signage of healthier food options and purchasing behaviour within major UK
supermarkets: Evaluation of 6 nonrandomised controlled intervention studies. PLoS
Medicine.19(3). p.e1003952.
RASHID, C.A., 2020. Balanced Score Card and Benchmarking as an Accounting Tool to
Evaluate Morrison’s Performance. Journal of Global Economics and Business. 1(3).
pp.59-72.
Soegoto, F.A., 2021. Product Development using SWOT Analysis. International Journal of
Entrepreneurship & Technopreneur (INJETECH). 1. pp.1-10.
Zhao, J. and Dou, X., 2019, March. A study of British organic food market. In Proceedings of
the 9th International Conference on Education and Social Science, Shenyang,
China (pp. 29-31).

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