Asda has updated investors on its Q3 trading performance (Jul-Sept) and reaffirmed its commitment to supporting families during the cost of living crisis.
The supermarket’s investments to drive value during the quarter resulted in a 4.7% increase in like-for-like sales when compared to the same period last year, while total revenues excluding fuel were £5.2 bn.
With the latest Asda Income Tracker showing that the average UK household was £432 worse off across the quarter compared to a year earlier, Asda redoubled its value initiatives to help customers make their money go further.
This included rolling out 141 new budget-friendly Just Essentials products, including popular cupboard staples such as rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes and tuna, increasing the total number of products available in the range to 270.
Over 10 million customers shopped the range during the quarter and it was crowned ‘Best Own Label Range’ by the prestigious Q Awards this week.
The great value for money offered by the Just Essentials range has been a key driver in attracting new shoppers to Asda. Around 70% spend on the range is from new customers and more than 400k shoppers switched to Asda during the quarter from more expensive supermarkets.
Asda also continued its ‘Dropped & Locked’ pricing initiative, where 250 family favourite products are locked in price for the rest of the year to give customers more certainty over their shopping bills.
During the quarter, Asda also refreshed its bakery, meat, fish and poultry categories, adding over 100 new lines at different price points to suit all customer budgets. This has resulted in a 15.5% uplift in bakery sales year-on-year and 6.4% increase in meat, fish and poultry sales.
Mohsin Issa, Asda’s co-owner, noted, “The financial pressures on families across the UK is worsening and they are looking to us for help. Asda has a long-standing reputation for providing customers with outstanding value and it’s more important than ever that we deliver on this for them.
'We’re absolutely committed to ensuring that Asda remains the best value traditional supermarket - while introducing new value initiatives such as Asda Rewards that can make an immediate difference to customer budgets.”
With customers and community groups across the UK struggling to manage rising living costs, Asda has introduced a number of new initiatives to provide additional support.
The ‘Kids eat for £1’ offer is available in all 205 cafes across the UK until the end of the year and gives children aged 16 and under the chance to have a hot meal whenever the café is open with no minimum adult spend. Since launching in late June, over 750,000 hot meals have been served to kids, supporting thousands of families.
Asda also launched its ‘Winter Warmers’ offer in cafes earlier this month, offering customers aged over 60 the chance to enjoy soup, a roll and unlimited brews for just £1. The supermarket stepped up its support for this group as they continue to be disproportionately impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and served 19,000 meals so far.
During the quarter, Asda stepped up its plans to enter the convenience retail market and bring Asda value to more local communities, with the acquisition of 129 convenience stores and attached petrol stations from the Co-op Group for a cash value of £438m.
In addition, Asda has this week launched its first standalone convenience store under the new ‘Asda Express’ brand. The store, which has opened at Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, stocks a comprehensive range of 3,000 products, with a focus on ‘food for now’ ‘food for tonight’ and top up shops.
A second ‘Asda Express’ will open at Tottenham Hale before Christmas, with a further 30 stores planned in residential and neighbourhood locations next year.
Mohsin concluded, “Although we have more the 600 stores across the UK, there are still many communities that don’t have an Asda nearby. We want to change this and bring Asda’s great products and value to even more people through these new stores.”