ASDA pounds opposition with price deals on food

A PUSH to shifting more items priced at a pound than retail chain Poundland helped ASDA lift first quarter sales.

Britain’s second l argest supermarket, which is owned by America’s Wal-Mart, has invested £100m bringing down the price of eggs and milk, and has added to lines costing 50p and £1 as it continues to differentiate itself on price.

The supermarket, which was badly affected by the horsemeat scandal, listing more contaminated items that most of its rivals said sales have now rebounded.

Chief executive Andy Clarke said: ‘ Confidence still hasn’t fully recovered for the industry. We have tested more items than anyone else. Value or premium has no bearing.’

The firm, which has 568 stores including 32 supercentres, 314 superstores and 187 supermarkets, said sales had trotted ahead to 1.3pc for the 14 weeks to April 12, up from 0.1pc in the previous quarter

Much of this was due to its focus on price and value as well as a strong performance online which saw sales increase 16pc.

While much of ASDA’s rivals have competed with vouchers and coupons Clarke has resisted saying: ‘We’ve always been and will continue to be number one for value.

‘Low prices are who we are and are what drive real loyalty. They are not just a gimmick or an unsustainable or knee-jerk promotion.’

The firm has also managed to keep costs down by benefiting from sharing ideas and pooling buying with its parent.

Clarke said: ‘Leveraging the scale and buying power of WalMart has also played a part in delivering industry- leading savings.

By working closely with American partners, ASDA has been able to harness bulk buying economies of scale on a number of products.’ A £600 BBQ is being sold for £350.

ASDA is also trialling scan and go technology in a number of stores over the next few months after being tried and tested in Wal-Mart stores since last year.

Hybrid checkouts, which transform themselves from staff- operated tills to self-checkouts, launched last year have now been rolled out to a fifth of the retailer’s shops. US parent company WalMart, which is the world’s largest retailer, put out its figures yesterday forecasting lower than expected profit for the second quarter as shoppers hit by rising taxes and austerity cuts spend less.