Only a few years ago, few people from the south would have heard of the supermarket chain Morrisons. Southerners may have heard tales that the chaps in Yorkshire had got their own mini-Tesco but since there weren’t many down south they didn’t take that much of an interest.

However, since the 2004 takeover of the ailing Safeway stores group, Morrisons has really expanded and taken its place as a powerful nationwide retailer, complete with excruciating celebrity adverts on TV and moderately clever marketing slogans. It is now the fourth largest supermarket chain in the UK with hundreds of stores and a strong share of the market. As with most successful UK retailers, Morrisons come from a very humble family background. The man who nurtured it from a tiny sapling to a mighty business oak is Sir Ken Morrison. Sir Ken has had a rather interesting business career and was intimately involved in the running of Morrisons until just 4 years ago when he bowed out to take a well deserved break.

Sir Ken was born in 1931 into a Bradford-based family who owned a small chain of grocery shops which his father had started in 1899. To keep him busy during the school holidays as a Yorkshire lad, his father put him to work in one of his shops where his chief duty was checking the eggs for defects. Whilst this wasn’t the most stimulating introduction to retail it certainly left a lasting impression on young Ken. National service soon came and he was drafted into the Army Ordinance Corps but having served his time mustered out in 1952. This became a significant year for the then 21 year old Sir Ken as his father developed a severe illness which would lead to his death four years later. This meant that in 1956 Sir Ken was thrust headfirst into the world of retail, and at 26 was the Managing Director and the Chairman of the Morrisons chain. For some the pressure would have been too much, or Ken could have simply left things as they were and lived comfortably from the income of his small chain of shops. However, Sir Ken isn’t one to accept compromise and set about building his business empire.

Just two years after taking over Sir Ken opened the first Morrisons in Bradford city centre, a landmark opening by all accounts as the first self-service shop in the city’s history and had a whopping three checkouts. 1961 saw the first Morrisons supermarket opened just outside Bradford. By 1967 things were growing well, and William Morrisons Supermarket Group went public with a total of 80 thousand eager investors attempting to buy stock. 1975 saw a total of 12 stores join the Morrisons family and after taking over another small chain in 1978 that total was doubled. To keep things moving forward Sir Ken used his minute attention to detail and love of micro managing to build a small empire of identical shops, networked across Yorkshire and into Lancashire.

By the end of the 1980s Morrisons growth showed no signs of slowing, and Sir Ken controlled 46 stores. The 90s held even more good news for Sir Ken and the Morrison family and he received his knighthood and opened the 100th Morrisons store at the turn of the millennium. However, things haven’t been all plain sailing for Sir Ken, particularly within the last decade.

When Morrisons began their takeover of the Safeway group of supermarkets which would eventually lead to their nationwide presence and ownership of over 450 stores, Sir Ken voiced his doubts. He described Safeway stores themselves as ‘tacky and small’ and ruffled a few feathers amongst the new workforce by calling Safeway employees ‘lazy southerners’. It’s easy to see how these fairly risqué statements could cause some investor concern and the take over was far from smooth with some profit warnings issued. When it was finally completed in 2004 people were worried that perhaps Sir Ken wouldn’t be able to manage such a huge number of stores and still turn a profit.

By 2006 all the nay-sayers were silenced when Morrison announced 134.2 million in half-year profits, and his personal fortune of 1.3 billion is testament to the skill of this particular retailer.

So what can affiliates take away from this tale of one Yorkshire lad who made good? Well, Sir Ken started young and quickly established himself in the retail world, which is good news for those of you who perhaps feel that you don’t have the age or experience to succeed. If you’re willing to immerse yourself in the business world early you’ll learn fast. There’s also a lesson to be taken from the fact that Sir Ken and his Morrisons group has expanded the most in recent years, that it took a long time for him to build his business to the heights of today. Patience and persistence as well as attention to detail are key to success in any business, and should be nurtured by budding affiliates.

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