Asda like-for-like sales up 0.7% in second quarter
Asda saw its like-for-like sales edge up by 0.7%, excluding VAT and fuel, in the 12 weeks ending 5 July as the supermarket continued its efforts to build a multi-format, multi-channel business.
In a results briefing yesterday, Walmart-owned Asda also reaffirmed its plans to open more ‘bricks and mortar’ stores, petrol stations and Click & Collect sites.
President and chief executive Andy Clarke said: “We’re pleased with our results in a tough market. We continued to grow our sales while also investing in holding down the price of essentials, increasing access points to Asda’s value and putting money back in customers’ pockets when they need it the most.
“Our focus on opening up more ways for more customers to shop with us, particularly in areas currently underserved by Asda, provides us with real opportunity to grow space and channels to adapt our business to today’s customer.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“I’m confident this focus will continue to drive growth in a sustainable way.”
Looking ahead to the end of the year, the supermarket said it expects 75% of customers to shop through multiple channels this Christmas.
Walmart international president and chief executive Doug McMillon said the UK was an example of where the company was leading with a core strength of investing in price on essential food items. He added: “In the UK, we continued to grow both sales and operating income in the second quarter of the year, with operating income growing 7.5%.
“However, the British consumer remains under pressure. Our price investment in food essentials and produce continued throughout the quarter, a key traffic driver which meant we grew market share in this category.
“The result was lower inflation across the overall basket for our UK customers.”
Asda also announced that it had launched a same-day grocery collection service at its Wakefield store this month and would be accelerating its rollout of grocery shopping collection to almost 250 sites by the end of 2013.
