Morrisons has extended its opening hours in response to the emergence of a ‘dawn and dusk’ shopper trend.

Research commissioned by the supermarket giant found that one in five customers now shop before 9am and after 8pm.

In light of this, the supermarket is to open for an extra 1,600 hours of trading a week, with 230 stores changing opening hours from 6am till 11pm UK-wide.

Greggs revealed similar plans to extend opening hours in a press conference last month, after it reported trends of people buying lunch before work, and commuters picking up snacks on their way home.

The YouGov-led research for Morrisons found that 20% of shoppers now visit a store between 6am and 9am or 8pm and 11pm.

Twenty-four per cent of people who shop in these times claimed it better suited their working hours, and one in 20 said they wanted to put kids to bed before heading down to a store.

The motivation behind shopper visits at later times varied, with 22% doing their regular weekly shop, 18% picking up food for that evening’s meals and 15% making trips for forgotten items.

Dalton Philips, Morrisons chief executive, said: “Modern family life, flexible working hours and busy schedules mean customers want to shop earlier and later. Therefore we need to be open for longer. The extension of our opening hours is one of many changes we are making – to make shopping trips easier at our stores.”

The activity forms part of a significant investment programme to make shopping trips easier for customers. 

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