Morrisons picks Logile for labour planning overhaul

Morrisons has chosen Logile for a five-and-a-half-year labour planning agreement covering 1,474 sites across its supermarket, convenience and logistics operations.

Under the deal, Morrisons will replace manual, spreadsheet-based planning with Logile software designed to centralise workload planning and link it to forecast demand. The estate in scope includes 497 supermarkets, 968 convenience stores and nine logistics sites.

The move gives Logile a significant role in the operations of one of the UK's largest grocers, as retailers face continued pressure to manage staffing levels more closely across stores and distribution networks. Morrisons employs about 95,000 colleagues across the business.

The rollout will begin with Logile's Enterprise Standards Manager, intended to create a central definition of work requirements across different parts of the business. Morrisons will also use workload planning, operational planning and store planning modules, along with performance dashboards designed to provide visibility across the estate.

The system is expected to help central operations teams move away from time-consuming manual processes and provide more consistent planning support to stores. The agreement also covers logistics sites, reflecting Morrisons' effort to align planning across both shop floor and supply chain operations.

One challenge for large grocery groups is that trading formats vary widely across their estates. Morrisons' network ranges from larger supermarkets to smaller convenience stores, each with different staffing demands, task volumes and customer patterns.

Alex Rose, Head of Productivity at Morrisons, said the retailer wanted a planning system that could accommodate those differences while maintaining consistency.

"Getting colleagues where customers need them most is the heart of what we do, and at our scale you need a reliable, shared foundation to get that right," Rose said.

"A large supermarket and a local convenience store operate differently, so our planning has to flex to those local needs while keeping central support consistent. When our store managers have plans they can depend on, they spend less time managing admin and more time supporting their colleagues and serving customers."

Operational shift

The agreement points to a broader shift in UK retail operations, with labour planning becoming more centralised and more closely linked to demand forecasts. Spreadsheet-based planning remains common in parts of the sector, particularly where store formats and task structures have developed unevenly over time.

For Morrisons, the change is intended to create a clearer operational baseline for managers and central teams. By translating store tasks into standardised workload requirements, the business expects to give teams a more consistent view of what work needs to be done and where hours should be assigned.

Logile will deliver the programme with FrontlineXP, described as a strategic partner focused on simplifying store processes and helping turn operational plans into store-level execution.

James Freshwater, Vice President, UK EMEA & International at Logile, linked the deal to a wider debate in the grocery sector over how retailers define and organise work.

"UK grocers are increasingly focused on supporting workload planning and operations effectively, and the ones making progress start by agreeing on what the work actually is," Freshwater said.

"Morrisons is doing that across its entire estate, from its largest supermarkets to its logistics sites, and that takes conviction from the top. Our role is to make that foundation accurate and simple for their teams to use every day, so the value shows up on the shop floor and in the warehouse."

Store network

The 1,474 locations covered by the agreement represent a large part of the operating network referenced in the announcement. While Morrisons also has a broader convenience presence through Morrisons Daily, including franchise locations, the deal as described focuses on supermarkets, convenience stores and logistics sites within the defined estate.

The inclusion of logistics sites is notable because labour planning systems in food retail have often been discussed mainly in relation to stores. Extending the same framework to distribution and logistics could give Morrisons a more unified view of operational demand across the business.

That is particularly relevant in grocery, where store availability, replenishment and warehouse activity are closely linked. Better visibility over workload at different points in the chain can affect how quickly managers respond to changes in demand, staffing gaps or operational bottlenecks.

For Logile, the Morrisons contract adds a prominent UK grocery customer at a time when retailers are reassessing how labour is allocated and measured. For Morrisons, the project marks a move away from manual planning tools to a central system intended to give store and operational managers a clearer view of workload across supermarkets, convenience stores and logistics sites.