Morrisons review

Morrisons began life as a Bradford market stall in 1899 and now has almost 500 stores. It promises freshness, service and value - but do its customers agree?

In the annual Which? supermarkets survey, 311 Morrisons customers who'd shopped in Morrisons stores, and a further 78 who had ordered online, rated the retailer on everything from queuing time to food quality and value for money. 

This enabled us to work out star ratings for different factors related to in-store and online shopping, as well as an overall customer score.

Are Morrisons supermarkets any good?

Morrisons store underwhelming

Morrisons is once again second from bottom this year. Only Co-op received a lower customer score.

Customers were impressed with Morrisons' range of products, where it was rated a good four out of five stars. However, it received a poor two stars for value for money and stock availability, and an average three stars for the remaining measures, including its queueing times and staff availability and helpfulness. 

One dissatisfied Morrisons in-store shopper said: 'Frustrating lack of staff and the very few that are there are often unhelpful. Prices are more expensive for the same product than other supermarkets.'

Another added: 'It has got very expensive recently compared to other supermarkets.'

• Find out more: see how the big players compare in our guide to the best and worst supermarkets

Is Morrisons' online delivery service any good? 

Bottom of the heap online

Morrisons did even worse for online shopping, falling from joint-fifth place last year to bottom place this year.

It received just two stars for value for money, stock availability and its choice of substitute items – one customer told us they were given a toothbrush instead of apples.

On this plus side, Morrisons was rated a good four stars for its range of products, availability of collection and delivery slots, and customer service at collection and delivery. It got an average three stars for the quality of its own-brand and fresh products, and the ease of using its website or app. 

One customer said: 'It's OK but their substitutions are shocking and they seem to run out of stock easily.'

Another added: 'Most of the time we get all the items we asked for, but when we get replacement substitutes they are mostly unacceptable. The prices lately are going up so much we are cutting back a lot on the shop and will probably stop buying online from them in the future.'

• Find out more: supermarket price comparison: which is the UK's cheapest grocer?

How fresh is the food in Morrisons deliveries?

In August 2021, we went undercover to find out how the different supermarkets compare for freshness, using a team of mystery shoppers to order more than 1,000 groceries in the first – and biggest – comparison of its kind.

Morrisons came fifth out of six for freshness, with items lasting over nine days on average. It delivered a pack of Scotch eggs on their use-by date, root veg mash with just one day left and three damaged items.

• Find out more: which online supermarket delivers the freshest groceries?

Morrisons in the news

In an apparent effort to avoid losing customers to discounters Aldi and Lidl, in January 2023 Morrisons said it would be offering a price cut averaging 20% on a total of more than 1,000 products, after already cutting the prices of some previously, for at least eight weeks. Discounted products included fruit and vegetables as well as branded items from Warburtons and Patak's.

In December 2022, Morrisons removed date labels from nearly 200 fruit and vegetable items to cut food waste, urging customers to use their own judgement to decide whether something is still good to eat.

In October 2022, Morrisons started offering bags of food from its cafés through the Too Good To Go app, which allows users to buy leftover food from retailers at a discounted price to reduce waste. The bags cost as little as £2.99 but contain food worth up to £11. Morrisons says it's aiming to halve food waste by 2030.

In June 2022, it emerged that Morrisons had changed its online ordering system. Instead of £1 being ‘reserved’ on shoppers' cards when they booked a delivery, Morrisons now instead reserved 5% of the expected cost the day before delivery. Shoppers were then charged based on the actual size of their final orders, with the reserved amount returned within a couple of days of delivery.

In January 2022, Morrisons said it was scrapping use-by dates on milk, encouraging customers to use the sniff test to check whether their milk is still good to use. It expects that this will stop millions of pints of its milk from being thrown away each year.

• Find out more: what supermarkets are doing to help with the cost of living

Which? Affordable Food For All campaign

Which? has launched an Affordable Food For All campaign after it found millions of families are skipping meals to survive the cost of living crisis. 

In an innovative new study, undertaken with researchers from the Consumer Data Research Centre at the University of Leeds, we've identified 50 of the most at-risk areas for finding affordable food in the UK.

We're calling on supermarkets to commit to clear pricing, better access to budget ranges that enable healthy choices and more offers for those who need them most.

• Do you want to see supermarkets take action? Sign the petition.