Asda pledges £1bn investment in prices

ASDA announced today that it will invest £1bn into lowering prices over the next five years.

The Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant, the British arm of US retailer Wal-Mart, also said it intends to invest £250m in product quality, style and design.

The announcement came as Asda reported like for like sales up 0.3% for the 13 weeks to October 4, its twelfth consecutive quarter of growth.

Chief executive and president Andy Clarke explained his vision and strategic priorities for the next five years.

He said: “I’m pleased with our performance in the third quarter of this year. The market conditions are tough, competition is fierce and our customers’ budgets are under intense pressure. We’ve continued to invest in lowering prices which has held them down for our customers while driving volume growth. This means we enter the crucial fourth quarter in a solid position.

“Looking to the longer term, we recognised some time ago that no matter whether the macro economy is slowly improving, every day finances remain under pressure and our customers have less time. Consequently, they are changing the way they live, budget and shop, to adapt to this new economic reality.

“We regard ourselves as the UK’s leading value retailer and it is against this backdrop that I have today set out our strategic priorities which will improve, extend and expand the business over the next five years. There are three major components to this approach which will redefine value. First, we will build on our heritage of low prices by rebasing our pricing to the tune of £1bn. Secondly, we will make a £250m investment in quality, style and design and thirdly, we will expand Asda to reach new customers in the UK, particularly London and the South East.”