Asda says ‘gimmick free’ trading helped it achieve record Christmas sales
Asda has revealed that Monday 23 December was its busiest ever trading day with 4.8 million shoppers passing through its 573 UK stores.
The supermarket giant also enjoyed its biggest ever Christmas for online sales as grocery home shopping sales exceeded £5 million in one day for the first and second time on 21 and 22 December.
Asda attributed its success to “gimmick-free, simple every day low price transparency” and to holding its nerve with regard to discounting. It added: “This was against the backdrop of many other retailers vouchering heavily and starting their sales early, and resulted in us seeing record footfall over the Christmas period.”
Mobile apps played a big part in the supermarket’s success with 28% of grocery home shopping sales being ordered through the Asda smartphone app in December, while mobile app sales were up over 200% on last year.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Asda chief executive and president Andy Clarke said: “This was a very tough December for retailers with price conscious customers leaving it later than ever before to buy presents and do their big Christmas food shop.
“While some retailers hit the panic button early, at Asda we held our nerve and stuck with our simple strategy of no gimmicks, just every day low prices right across the store and online. It meant that customers trusted us to deliver not only on price, but also quality and good honest value. This translated into record footfall, both in store and online.
“We planned for 2013 to be an omni-channel Christmas for food and it was. For the first time ever our grocery home shopping site exceeding £5 million of sales in one day on both the 21 and 22 December.
“As we enter 2014 our strategy to redefine value retailing in the UK is underlined by the launch of our biggest ever January value campaign. When customers need our help most to make ends meet we are investing £50m in price cuts in the first quarter of the year as part of a £200 million investment this year to lock down prices on weekly essentials.
“While our competitors continue to promise to match prices we are sticking with our simple commitment to beating prices. This is the straightforward, honest and transparent commitment that shoppers can rely on.”
Asda said it had invested in essential lines to drive sales over the Christmas period and, as a result, saw sales uplifts of between 50% and 60% on products such as whole salmon and beef. It also sold almost three times as many George festive clothing items with Christmas jumpers and onesies proving particularly popular with customers.
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