Morrisons is to launch its first dedicated online transactional website for wine this autumn as part of a wider shake up of its overall ecommerce offer.

Morrisons Cellar is the first online transactional site to be offered by Morrisons in any grocery category and is the company's first step in its bid to play catch up to  the online offers developed by its major supermarket competitors. It is currently the only one of the Big Four supermarket chains not to have its own transactional website.

The Morrisons Cellar site is expected to go live "in the next couple of months", according to a Morrisons spokeswoman and is thought to be based on a wine by case model. It is expected to be followed by other sites for other grocery and non-food categories.

Full details of the new site are yet to be released, but the announcement of MorrisonsCellar.com came in today's latest trading statement for the overall chain.

A Morrisons spokeswoman said there had been a "big change in the wine team to facilitate" the new site and it would be able to exploit the technology and expertise it has gained from the £70 million acquisition last year of the specialist online childcare retailer, Kiddicare. Orders to the site will be fulfilled from Kiddicare's distribution centre in Peterborough.

The move comes a week after the announcement that long standing Morrisons wine development manager, Arabella Woodrow MW, has left the business.

Steve Mosey, category director for beers, wines and spirits for Morrisons has confirmed it will not be looking to replace the wine development manager role, but "will be creating new roles and expanding the team over the coming months".

He has now released the following statement about Woodrow's departure: "We can confirm Arabella Woodrow MW has left her position as wine development manager at Morrisons.

"Over the last six years, Arabella has been a key member of the beers, wines and spirits team dedicated to providing a comprehensive wine portfolio for our customers. She has been instrumental in launching and selecting wines for our own brand range, most notably our Morrisons Best Champagne which won the Which? Best Buy award two years in a row. We wish Arabella all the best in her future endeavours.

"We have a strong team of buyers, and Morrisons' well-established range of great value wines is the result of these wine experts who hand-select wines from around the world for Morrisons' customers to enjoy. We have some very exciting new initiatives in our wine proposition over the coming months which will make our wine offer even more accessible and interesting for our customers."

The Morrisons' wine buying team now consists of:
• Gyles Walker - specialising in wines from France and USA

• Simon Cairns - with a focus on wines from Australia, New Zealand and Italy

• Melissa Yorke - covering Champagnes, sparkling wines, and wines from Spain, Portugal, and South Africa.

• Claire Greenwood - buyer for rosé Chile, Argentina, Germany, Eastern Europe.