Morrisons boss Dalton Philips has gone into overdrive in recent weeks. But will all his bold initiatives come off?

It’s weird to think that six months ago we were all wondering what Dalton Philips had been doing since he’d joined Morrisons. Well, no-one’s saying that any more. In the past fortnight he’s shelled out £70m for Kiddicare and £30m for a 10% stake in Fresh Direct, two businesses not many people in UK retail will have heard of. Add to that the plans for convenience chain M Local and the ambitious store revamp plans, and you’ve got probably the most exciting programme of any UK retailer.

Someone tweeted me yesterday comparing the way in which Dalton is breezing through the business with when Carlos Criado-Perez arrived at Safeway all those years ago. But in truth what Dalton is doing is much bolder than that, and has the potential to completely transform the business.

If they come off. There are any number of obstacles which could get in the way of Dalton’s plans which spring to mind. Here are a few which spring to mind:

- In London, its online food business will be competing in the upmarket fresh end of the market against Waitrose and Ocado, which both have greater recognition in that market than Morrisons and a big following among middle-class Londoners.

- Fresh Direct makes money in the US, but the UK is a different market and downtown Manhattan lacks the physical grocery offer London has. If, as Dalton says, no-one is making money in online grocery here, how is he so sure Fresh Direct will be able to?

- Techonology - Morrisons is spending a fortune on a new Oracle platform across its business. How do its two new acquisitions fit with this?

- Convenience - Is Morrisons too late to the party? Everyone’s trying to acquire c-store sites: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Waitrose - what makes Morrisons offer any different, and how’s it going to compete in the market for sites?

That’s not to say that Dalton’s initiatives are wrong - he can’t afford to ignore the online opportunity and he needs to keep putting down space. He’s being brave, and if all his initaitves come off, he’ll go down as a big success at Morrisons. I suspect that while some will fly, not all of them will.