Asda, the UK’s second-largest grocer, ended its 2013 financial year with a fall in underlying sales in the fourth quarter.
In the 13 weeks to the 3 January, Asda saw comparable sales drop 0.1%, underling the retailer’s worsening sales performance as it moved throughout the year.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
For its third quarter, like-for-like sales were up 0.3%. In the second quarter, LFLs were up 0.7%; in the first quarter, they increased 1.3%.
Over the year as a whole, Asda’s comparable sales inched up 0.5%.
Asda parent Wal-Mart, which also issued its fourth-quarter and annual results today, said its UK arm saw its operating income fall 1.5% in the quarter thanks to “expense headwinds”.
Wal-Mart cited “indirect taxation, employment costs and investments in e-commerce”.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataAsda CEO Andy Clarke said: “It will come as no surprise that 2013 was a tough year for UK retailers and there’s little doubt that the UK retail market is undergoing significant and permanent structural change.”
However, Clarke said Asda had moved to “redefine value retailing in the UK” and pointed to its announcement in November it would spend GBP1bn on lowering prices in a bid to “widen the gap” with its big three rivals, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.
The offensive on price was one of a set of “strategic priorities” for the next five years.
Asda plans to spend GBP250m on “quality, style and design” across its product portfolio and expand further in parts of the UK where its market share is low, particularly London and the South East. It also plans more investment online, with a target of 1,000 click-and-collect points in the next five years.
—–
Over the next fortnight, we’d like to hear how you see the outlook for your business in 2014.
Now in its third year, the just-food Confidence Survey provides a snapshot of how you and your colleagues in the industry see the year unfolding. The latest survey is live and takes just a few moments to fill in.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be reporting on the highlights from the survey in a free webinar live on just-food.com.
As a thank you for filling in the survey, you’ll receive an executive summary detailing the results.
