In order to focus on its ‘everyday low prices’ campaign, supermarket giant Asda has cut back on specialised promotions.
As the Wal-Mart owned competitor continues to look for ways to beat out other grocers, the latest market data shows that shares for the retail giant fell for the fifth month in a row. The Leeds-based supermarket fell behind recording a growth of just 2.5 per cent with shares slipping to 16.8 per cent from 16.9 per cent last year.
Meanwhile, Tesco held its own with a 30.6 per cent growth rate, which was similar to growths in Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. Last week Asda posted like-for-like sales down by 0.3 per cent for the first three months of this year. This marks the first time sales for the grocer have declined in four years.
The fall in numbers comes at a poignant time as Andy Clarke, the former chief operating officer, takes Andy Bond’s place as chief executive. Bond has moved to a position as part-time chairman. According to Bond, the market has slowed greatly since the beginning of the year, and the chairman said he thought conditions would remain poor for longer. Bond had already implemented a ‘fight-back’ scheme, which includes the firm’s new ‘everyday low prices’ message to its customers.
According to Nielsen analysts the approach seemed to be working as Asda’s sales were already showing signs of improvement. Marks & Spencer reported today that its food sales were coming out of its slump with like-for-like sales growths at 0.3 per cent putting them back in the black.
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