Diversification
Finding the retail market more hostile in the late 1990s, Iceland pursued avenues for differentiation. In 1998, the firm began to focus on providing organic food and Genetically modified-free food. This policy saw the company convert its entire frozen vegetable range to organic in 2000.
In 1999, Iceland launched what it claimed to be the first nationwide, free, online grocery shopping service. This tied in with the rebranding of all outlets under the Iceland.co.uk fascia. However, the rebranding exercise appears to have been quietly abandoned in the early 2000s, as the unadorned Iceland name is now used more widely, although some stores still have the Iceland.co.uk name on display.
The supermarket also attempted ties with British Home Stores.
In the summer of 2000 Iceland merged with Booker plc with Booker's Stuart Rose taking the role of CEO of the merged company. He left for the Arcadia Group within a few months. He was replaced by Bill Grimsey in January 2001.
Soon after Grimsey's appointment Malcolm Walker, Iceland's founder & Chairman, was forced to stand down as it was revealed he had sold £13.5 million of Iceland shares five weeks before the company released the first of several profits warnings. Walker was not fully cleared of these allegations until October 2004.
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