Asda: Sales drop for supermarket chain as customers switch to rivals

Asda finance chief Michael Gleeson said it is investing heavily into improving its store standards, product availability and staffing hours to address concerns over customers’ shopping experiences.

Asda is investing £30 million to increase staff levels to improve its replenishment of stock and cleaning in stores.

It came as the company, which is owned by Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital, revealed that total revenues, excluding fuel, were up 2 per cent for the first half of 2024.

But like-for-like sales slipped by 2.1 per cent and revenues in the second quarter were down 2.2 per cent, with a 5.3 per cent like-for-like decline.

Industry data from Kantar found that Asda had 12.7 per cent of the UK grocery market over the three months to July 7, shrinking from a 13.6 per cent share of the market a year earlier. Major rivals including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons all gained customers, according to the research.

Mr Gleeson said: “It is important to highlight that switching losses to the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, have receded. We have addressed that well with our price matching programme and are pleased with that.

“Clearly Morrisons have also done a lot better according to the latest data, but we are coming up against tougher year-on-year comparisons.

"We are still happy with the longer-term progress we have been making.”

Asda said online sales grew over the latest quarter, with a 1.4per cent rise in online grocery and 3.9 per cent jump in George.com sales.

Mohsin Issa, Asda co-owner, said: “These results highlight a period of robust online performance and a record start to George’s Back-to-School campaign.

"We remain committed to maintaining our value credentials, enhancing the product offer, and executing our long-term growth strategy to build an even stronger Asda for our customers and communities.”