Asda’s recurrent slumps in sales have reached a new low after Christmas, but CEO Andy Clarke has said that the Walmart owned company will win the price war in the long run.
There was a 5.8% drop in fourth quarter sales on 18 February, the sixth straight quarterly decline for the supermarket.
Quarter 3 of this financial year saw a drop of 4.5 per cent, it is reported, and 4.7 per cent in the second quarter.
However, the optimistic CEO said: “In the long run we’ll win this market. Market share is important to us… But what’s more important is financial control and stability. That’s going to give us an advantage to win in this market.”
The store chain is committed to bringing prices down to combat the German discounters. They have said that they will invest more than £1 billion towards bringing prices down, and over the next few years, aims to have its prices within 5 per cent of Aldi and Lidl.
Recently, Asda have even called on their suppliers to provide discounts so that they can get a bit more of an edge in the game.
Clarke also commented: “We have maintained the strength of our price position against the big grocers at a time when they have significantly altered their operating (profit) margins to support their organisations. I would suggest… In the medium to long term, that’s unsustainable.”
