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Telegraph 8/5/14 'The challenges facing Wm Morrison have been laid bare after the supermarket retailer reported a 7.1pc slump in like-for-like sales. The Bradford-based retailer said the grocery market has "continued to be competitive" during the last three months but that its new price-cutting strategy unveiled in March is "on track". The slide in like-for-like sales, unprecedented in recent times for one of the large supermarkets, covers the 13 weeks to May 4 and is excluding fuel. Total sales for Morrisons were down 4.2pc. Dalton Philips, chief executive, said: “The plans we set out at our results in March are on track. :"The reaction of our customers to the 1,200 “I’m Cheaper” price cuts we announced last week has been very positive. Morrisons has already warned that profits this year will halve as it cuts prices in an attempt to compete against the discounters Aldi and Lidl. Despite the fall in sales Morrisons said its new online business is performing ahead of expectations and it is still aiming to open 200 M Local convenience stores by the end of 2014. The trading update from Morrisons, Britain's fourth-largest supermarket, comes a week after the retailer said it had “grasped the nettle” after pledging to cut the price of 1,200 products by an average of 17pc. However, the Morrisons boss warned that like-for-like sales are “unlikely to improve anytime soon” because the cuts will have a deflationary impact on sales. Nonetheless, he insisted Sainsbury's was monitoring 15,000 prices a week across the industry and would stay in-line with its rivals. Mr King added: "We will look at the detail and keep doing things that have served our business well." The latest market share data from Kantar for the 12 weeks to April 27 shows the grocery market in Britain is growing at the slowest rate for at least 11 years due to price deflation and the discounters grabbing customers. Aldi and Lidl are growing at a record pace of 36.1pc and 20.9pc respectively, while Morrisons sales slid 3.6pc and Tesco 2.4pc. Sainsbury’s sales growth slowed to 0.3pc, behind Asda’s 2pc increase and the overall market growth of 1.9pc.' That's one hell of a drop in sales.When discounters are increasing market share at the expense of the big boys,you know it's unlike any recovery you've ever seen before.