Morrisons to enter Channel Islands market with franchise and wholesale deal

Morrisons
Morrisons has inked a wholesale and franchise deal with Channel Islands retailer SandpiperCI

Morrisons is to enter the Channel Islands market for the first time after it struck a wholesale and franchise deal with SandpiperCI, which operates 43 grocery shops on Jersey and Guernsey.

All of Sandpiper’s Food Hall stores will be rebranded as "Morrisons Daily", while Bradford-based Morrisons will supply the rest of the company's shops with products under its Safeway brand.

Sandpiper’s chief executive Tony O’Neill said the deal would be a “step-change” for the company, which will invest more than £1m in upgrading the stores, creating 100 new jobs. 

He added: “The Morrisons scale will help us to save on our operating costs, which we can pass on to our customers by lowering food prices as each store is converted.”

Sandpiper also runs franchised stores for Marks & Spencer, Iceland, Hotel Chocolat and Asda's George clothing brand, among others. 

The news comes amid moves by Britain’s major supermarket chains to expand their share of the wholesale market, which offers more stable revenues than conventional retail, especially at a time of intense competition from the likes of Aldi and Lidl. 

Morrisons struck a deal to supply ecommerce giant Amazon with products for its Pantry delivery service in 2016 and last year agreed a wholesale tie-up with convenience chain McColl’s.

Safeway
Morrisons has revived the Safeway brand as it beefs up its wholesale business

In November members of wholesale and retail mutual Nisa backed a £140m acquisition by the Co-op after Sainsbury’s walked away from takeover talks. The following month Tesco won the backing of Britain’s competition watchdog for its £3.7bn buyout of cash and carry chain Booker, despite opposition from smaller food retailers.  

Morrisons’s James Badger said: "We are pleased to be announcing a partnership with a strong franchise partner in Sandpiper and the opportunity to bring Morrisons quality and value to customers in the Channel Islands.”

Shares in Morrisons were up 0.9pc at 219p in morning trade. 

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