Asda sales drop to worst level in 20 years

Asda is struggling more than any of the other big four UK supermarket chains.

It had its worst sales performance in more than 20 years in the 12 weeks to 1 March, while Tesco appears to be recovering.

Sales fell at all of Tesco’s three main rivals, while the country’s number one retailer posted a sales increase of 1.1% in the three month period – the best results for Tesco in a year and a half.

But Asda, which holds 17% market share, performed the worst of them all. Sales for the chain, owned by Walmart, dropped by 2.1% over the period, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel.

This is Asda’s worst performance since Kantar started keeping track of its sales in 1994.

Asda reported its first annual decline since 2008 last month. The retailer said that the poor performance was because of discount vouchers used by its competitors.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said:

“Asda is really being caught in the crossfire of Tesco’s mini-resurgence. There is not room for all of the big four to grow and so when Tesco’s sales rise the others suffer.

“This resurgence has impacted on Asda which competes for many of the same shoppers as Tesco,” he said.

 

McKevitt said that four out of five of customers who shop at Asda also shop at Tesco, adding that it’s been losing sales to discount retailers such as Lidl.

Sales at Sainsbury’s declined by 0.5% and Morissons sales dropped 0.4%.

Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Morissons all lost market share to the German discount chains Lidl and Aldi.

Lidl sales increased by 13.6% over the three months, while Aldi sales surged by 19.4%.