Asda has fallen further behind supermarket rivals after its sales growth effectively ground to a halt, new figures reveal.
Sales at Asda, which is owned by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital, were up just 0.8pc in the last 12 weeks compared to last year, according to analysis firm NIQ.
The supermarket’s growth was much slower than rivals Sainsbury’s and Tesco, which recorded rates of 7.9pc and 6.3pc respectively over the period. Marks & Spencer also posted growth of 11.2pc.
The figures show Asda lagging behind all major rivals over the period, with its market share slipping to 11.7pc compared to 12.3pc a year earlier.
This allowed German discounter Lidl to move closer to Asda in terms of market share, which rose from 9.8pc to 10.2pc.
The latest figures will increase pressure on the Issa brothers, who have vowed to boost sales at Asda while cutting costs.
The Telegraph revealed earlier this year that Asda had slashed millions of hours for staff in a bid to reduce its wage bill, which has threatened to spark a wave of strike action.
It comes as Asda struggles under the weight of billions of pounds of debt following a £6.8bn takeover in 2021, which has sparked hundreds of millions of pounds in interest payments.
This has since prompted scrutiny from MPs who have questioned whether Asda’s private equity ownership makes it less competitive.
NIQ said there was “intense competition” among supermarkets in the past 12 weeks, all of which have tried to draw customers in with price cuts.
Waitrose revealed it was cutting prices further on Wednesday, while Sainsbury’s unveiled it was adding thousands of new products to its ‘Low Everyday Prices’ range.
Aldi this week also pledged to cut more prices than ever before, saying it would invest more than last year’s £380m on lowering food bills for shoppers.
Mike Watkins, NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said: “Encouraging more visits is likely to be the next battleground for retailers now that we have lower inflation.
“The wet and cold weather in the first quarter of the year may have deterred some store visits, but we saw that the early Easter offered some attractive seasonal promotions which encouraged shoppers to buy more.”
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
