The headline is stark – “Asda crowned Britain’s worst-performing major supermarket as chairman sets out revival plan”.
The article, on finance website This is Money, goes on to detail how industry figures “revealed [Asda] to be the worst-performing major supermarket over the three months to August 10”.
Responding to the report, Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton told Retail Gazette he looks at it “in a slightly different way”.
“There are lots of reports on performance, not all of those cover what we are,” he says.
“My ‘Asda World’ started not 12 months ago, and since that period of time we just had our best quarter for five quarters.”
It’s with this optimism in mind that Leighton explains why he’s not troubled by reports that compare Asda to its retail rivals.
“Ours is a bit more than a supermarket,” he says.
“Supermarkets don’t have brands like George. Most of the supermarkets are closing their cafes, we’re opening them. We have a massive pharmacy business, we have the second largest optical business in the UK. We’ve got up to 400 Greggs, Costas and Subway concessions, and we have 700 petrol filling stations.
“So that’s the way I look at it. I don’t look at any individual report that comes out.”
Leighton does acknowledge there has been “bad performance”, but highlights there is plenty to feel positive about.
“I just look at Asda as I know it, and the Asda that I know is recovering from a long run of bad performance, (and) has just completed probably the biggest systems change that any retailer has gone through in Europe.
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“So, I see things in a slightly different way, as do all of our colleagues.”
‘An important moment’
It’s been a busy summer for Asda.
Last week’s Q2 results showed encouraging signs, and the business has just completed ‘Project Future’, the huge IT transformation programme, to separate more than 2,500 systems from former owner Walmart.
As of now, all stores, food depots and home office systems are operating on Asda-owned technology.
CFO Michael Gleeson describes the completion of ‘Project Future’ as “an important moment” for the business and they were “beginning to benefit from operating in one world”.
With the system overhaul now complete, the best quarterly performance since Q1 2024, and the business expected to exit the year in like-for-like growth, there is plenty to be pleased about in “Asda World”.
For Leighton – who began his retail career in 1974 as a Mars Confectionery salesman – the achievements are a testament to the staff.
“Our colleagues have done something that has never been done before, and that’s what Asda does,” he says.
“We rise to tasks that other people feel would be too difficult to do.”
Another reason to be cheerful is that this year marks Asda’s 60th anniversary, something, Leighton says, staff are “very proud of”.
“We’ve got lots of colleagues who have done 30, 40, 50 years in the business, and they are supremely proud of what we’re doing.”
Asda in numbers:
- One George standalone concept store
- 26 depots
- 29 Asda Living stores
- 157 instore opticians
- 247 instore pharmacies
- 478 Express convenience sites (469 acquired, nine standalone)
- 580 supermarkets, superstores and supercentres
- 769 petrol stations
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