The ‘big four’ supermarkets may be forced to start closing large out-of-town stores.
Waitrose chief executive Mark Price said that supermarkets needed to reinvent themselves to survive in a market squeezed by online shopping, discounters, and a change in behaviour from the public moving towards using smaller convenience stores.
Waitrose has managed to grow its market share in recent years as it cements its position as the premium grocer, but Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, and Morrisons have all posted negative sales results in recent months as German discounters Aldi and Lidl compete for price-conscious shoppers.
Price told the Sunday Telegraph that food is around five years behind non-food out-of-town stores, and reflecting upon the move by Homebase to close a quarters of its stores in an effort to improve profitability.
Price said:
“Mr Price said: “This is as fundamental as supermarkets coming into the UK in the 1950s and reinventing what food shopping was all about.”