Kiddicare founder Scott Weavers-Wright has complained that big firms like Morrisons 'play too safe' online and are not willing to take risks to stay ahead.
Weavers-Wright sold his children's products retailer Kiddicare to Morrisons for £70 million in February 2011. He said at Kiddicare he had networked with a lot of business in Europe, San Francisco and New York to get ahead in the UK and 'to offer the customer a better experience'.
He told the Essential Retail website: 'That seemed very natural at the time and Kiddicare opened the door to retailers in Europe. When we were running Morrisons.com, it became apparent that the bigger corporates just didn't do that. It wasn't their take on things and they didn't want to lead; they'd rather play safe.'
He added: 'That's not the way I work in any shape or form and I got frustrated very quickly.'
Weavers-Wright said many of the UK's grocers are falling behind in the digital world. He said part of his plan at his Stamford, Lincolnshire start-up incubator Haatch is to try to persuade larger retailers to think differently.
He also said it was a 'complete sin' for a retailer not to have a loyalty scheme and to have 'no idea' who their customers are in the world of big data. Morrisons is the only major UK grocer not to have a loyalty scheme.
It was reported today that it plans to launch one by Christmas.
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