Morrisons launches ‘menopause friendly’ aisles

Morrisons has introduced “menopause friendly” bays into its stores, to help support shoppers on their “menopause journey”.

It follows the retailer’s partnership with menopause awareness initiative GenM in March, during which the retailer committed to displaying GenM’s M-tick label, which highlights “menopause-friendly” products across its stores.

The bays will roll into an initial 45 Morrisons stores. The new lilac bays stock a range of GenM-accredited and own-label products. Dove skincare and haircare, Colgate oral care and Canesten intimate health lines are among the initial products. Menopause vitamins and Tena incontinence support are also included.

As well as simply signposting specialist products, the bays are also dressed with educational PoS, to help customers “understand the common signs of the menopause”.

“The aim of our collaboration with GenM Collective is to help our customers, who are either experiencing or will experience symptoms of menopause, to recognise their symptoms early and provide them with the relevant products to improve their personal experience,” said Michael Figg, senior buying manager at Morrisons.

“We hope that we can expand the rollout to further stores in the future to help raise awareness of the common signs of menopause to our customers and to provide education on the specific products which can help them.”

GenM was founded by Heather Jackson and Sam Simister, a former executive at Innocent Drinks in 2021, in order to raise awareness about the 48 symptoms of the menopause and better support the estimated 15.5 million who are going through the menopause.

GenM launched and runs the M-tick accreditation, which works to highlight ‘accredited’ menopause-friendly brands and products on shelves and labels.

Boots, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are also members. The latter launched menopause-friendly aisles in an initial 200 stores in February. 

“As GenM – the menopause partner for retailers and brands and home of the M-tick – we’ve been incredibly impressed by our 100 partners and how quickly they’ve actioned initiatives and commitments to help drive real change for the menopausal consumer,” Jackson said.

“Morrisons is a fantastic example of this, recognising that the moment for menopause is now. Having only joined the GenM Collective in February, we are blown away by their progress – delivering dedicated space for menopause-friendly products and using our transformative M-tick to bring visibility, choice and trust to the menopause, whilst also facilitating the brands they stock to work closely with us on improving menopause-friendly ranging.”

As a national retailer, Morrisons would bring a “real visibility” to the menopause, which would help “normalise” the conversation, Jackson said.

“We don’t expect retailers to cure menopause, we are simply asking them to deliver women the choice and opportunity to improve their lived experience in the way that best suits them.

“The impact of national retailers like Morrisons leading the way and demonstrating what is possible cannot be overstated.”