Asda experiences worst quarter ever as sales continue to fall

Asda may be the biggest casualty from the ongoing supermarket price wars to date after reporting a significant dip in sales for the sixth successive quarter, for the 13 weeks ending January 1.

The Leeds-headquartered supermarket experienced a record drop in sales of 5.8% over the last quarter, which included the Christmas period.

Owned by US giant Walmart, Asda saw a 4.5% decline in the previous quarter and a 4.7% drop before that, which marked its worst quarterly sales dip in its 50-year history.

Asda also performed the worst over Christmas out of all the other major supermarkets. Main rivals Morrisons and Tesco both surpassed expectations while Sainsbury saw sales fall by just 0.4% over the fourth quarter.

Discount food retailers Lidl and Aldi continued to grow and see an increase in sales over the last three months.

George Scott, senior analyst at Verdict Retail, claimed that Asda’s management just isn’t get it right, He said: “Asda’s now prolonged story of negative sales growth shows that it has not done enough to broaden its appeal beyond price.

“Away from price, Asda has a relatively weak reputation for quality… it also needs to do more to improve its staffing levels, adding reasons to visit, if it is to claw back ground from the discounters.”

The supermarket’s poor results come just one month after Asda confirmed around 200 job cuts will be made at its head office in Leeds, and a further 5,000 store colleagues are undergoing a consultation in regards to new job roles and redeployment opportunities as the supermarket chain plans for the future.

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