Asda to begin Netto store conversion

The stores in Stainforth and Wakefield will be among the first in the UK to convert from Netto into new Asda supermarkets with each one undergoing a half a million pound refit.

The stores, on Station Road, Stainforth, and Dewsbury Road, Wakefield, will close on Saturday, April 16 and are expected to re-open two weeks later. They are two of 147 former Netto stores which will be converted this year to the new format.

The refits come as Asda also prepares to push its online and financial services. The company has appointed Arnu Misra to carry out a comprehensive review of its “New Business Opportunity” in the next three months, which will form the basis of its “New Business Strategy”. New Business refers to Asda’s online, home shopping and financial services divisions.

The company is splitting responsibility for its online business between Simon King, chief operating officer, and Rick Bendel, who will look after marketing, as part of a wider move that gives him responsibility for all marketing activity.

Asda plans to make its entire non-food range available from the smaller Netto stores by enabling customers to pick up internet orders from the shop. Last year the company said it plans to become the biggest seller of non-food in the country and a “world-class” dot-com retailer within five years.