Asda sees rate of sales decline ease

The UK’s third largest grocer, behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s, said sales at stores open over a year fell 2.8 per cent, excluding fuel, in its fiscal first quarter. That compared to a decline of 2.9 percent in the previous quarter.#

Sean Clarke, Asda president and CEO, said: “We’re pleased that the momentum of Q4 has continued into the New Year with a third consecutive quarter of improvement.

“We’re delivering more consistently for our customers, particularly in fresh food, service and availability - both in stores and online.

“Participation in our award winning Own Brand ranges has increased as we focus on increasing its value and quality and make sure we are offering the right ranges for our customers. We were pleased to receive industry recognition for these ranges and our online service in recent weeks.

“Despite this progress we are in no way complacent and there is still much for us to do. Our colleagues continue to make improvements for our customers every day and I want to thank them for their hard work and the real difference they are making.”

The big four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Leeds-based Asda and Bradford-based Morrisons - have all faced major disruption from German discounters Aldi and Lidl, with their emergence leading to a bitter price war.

The pressure from the German discounters dosen’t look like easing with Aldi only last week saying it could exceed a target to have 1,000 UK stores by 2022.

Aldi’s chief executive Matthew Barnes said the group could see some British towns house up to eight Aldi stores, piling further pressure on its more established rivals.

“If you look at the population, we think not only could we have a store in every town and city, but for every 25,000 to 30,000 people,” he said in an interview with industry magazine The Grocer.

Aldi currently has 700 British outlets.