• Like for like sales, for 14 weeks to 12th April 2013 grew 1.3 per cent, (excluding VAT and fuel)
• Investment in lowering the price of everyday essentials continues to reap rewards
• Multichannel strategy continues to deliver strong growth, with online sales growing by over 16 per cent in the quarter as the retailer brings revolutionary Walmart technology to the UK
• President and CEO Andy Clarke says he’s “unwavering in his commitment to deliver Every Day Low Prices for customers” through everyday low cost strategy

Asda today (Thursday 16th May 2013) announced that it had grown like-for-like sales by 1.3% in the 14 weeks ending 12 April 2013, driven by strong performances across food and multichannel.

According to Asda, a sustained investment in lowering the price of everyday essentials and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunities for customers to shop have enabled the retailer to maintain its market position over the last quarter, with market share unchanged at 17.9%. It noted its online and multichannel strategy continues to deliver strong growth, with online sales growing by over 16 per cent in the quarter.

Speaking at a results briefing this morning, Andy Clarke, President and CEO of Asda said:

“This represents a strong performance in what remains a very tough market. Despite a difficult environment for our customers, we have continued to achieve growth on growth by lowering the prices of essentials and investing in technology to make shopping more convenient.

“We’ve always been and will continue to be number one for unbeatable value. Low prices are who we are and are what drive real loyalty. They are not just a gimmick or an unsustainable or knee-jerk promotion.

“We are unwavering in this commitment to low prices and will continue to invest to allow our customers to shop when, where and how they want safe in the knowledge that they will always get the best prices when they shop with Asda.”

The retailer, which is on course to be named Britain’s lowest priced supermarket for the 16th year running, has reinforced its commitment to delivering Every Day Low Prices over the last quarter. In addition to investing further in 50p and £1 lines, it recently launched Asda’s Price Lock initiative, a £100 million commitment to keep down the price of everyday essential items, such as milk, eggs, bread and butter.

Customer participation in the Asda Price Guarantee – Asda’s cast iron pledge to be 10 per cent cheaper than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons – also continued at pace, with checks of the APG topping close to half a million checks per week last quarter.

The retailer is also maximising its relationship with parent company Walmart, to bring new in-store and technology innovations to the UK. Hybrid checkouts, launched last year, have now been rolled out to a fifth of the retailer’s stores; helping to cut costs and queues. Scan and Go technology is trialling in a number of stores over the next few months, after being tried and tested in Walmart stores since last year.

Leveraging the scale and buying-power of Walmart has also played its part in delivering industry-leading savings. By working closely with US partners, Asda has been able to harness bulk buying economies of scale on a number of products including, for example, a gas burner BBQ, typically around £600 in the UK market, which is currently on sale in Asda for less that £350.

The retailer also noted it was sharing the best talent, practices and know how with Walmart to improve its operating model and drive efficiencies across the business.

Last month, the retailer announced total sales in 2012 of £22.8 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year, and plans to invest £700m into its ‘clicks and bricks’ strategy in 2013.

Asda is currently the second largest online grocer in the UK with total online sales up 16 percent in the first quarter of the year. Click & Collect facilities for George clothing and General Merchandise have already been introduced into all of Asda’s 568 stores and will be in place for grocery in almost 200 outlets by the end of 2013.

This is in addition to the Collect Plus deal announced in March, where customers can buy George and Asda Direct items online and collect or return them at more than 5,000 convenience stores and petrol stations in the UK. Click and Collect sites in railway stations, motorway services and even universities are also currently under consideration.

In the remainder of the year, Asda will also open 10 new stores, including four new small format supermarkets, five superstores and one new non-food outlet. This is in addition to two stores that have already opened in 2013 in Coventry (Asda Living) and Larkhall, near Glasgow (Asda supermarket). The total new stores will together add over 340,000 square feet of net selling space in 2013.

• Asda announces 2012 sales of £22.8 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year

• UK’s 2nd largest online grocer invests further in multichannel and new stores

• Click and collect development with same day delivery on grocery home shopping

Asda today [Tuesday 23rd April] reported a 4.5% uplift in total sales, including petrol, to £22.8 billion in 2012 – up from £21.8 billion the year before. The retailer pointed to its investment in holding down the price of essentials, increasing opportunities for customers to shop and putting money back in their pockets as key components of its success.

Building on the success of 2012, the retailer announced that it will invest over £700m of capital in 2013 into online, new and existing stores and its supply chain helping to create 2,500 new jobs across the UK. It also noted that while bricks and mortar stores are central to growth, the shape of its investment has shifted its focus to accelerating its multichannel business.

Andy Clarke, President and CEO of Asda said:

“I’m proud that in the continuing and very challenging trading environment we were able to increase total sales by 4.5% last year. This shows that we are continuing to get it right for customers.

“By focusing on their needs through accelerating our investment in the technology and infrastructure to make shopping more convenient, customers can shop for what they want, when they want it.”

Asda is Britain’s second biggest online grocer, enjoying success from double-digit year on year growth and increased demand from customers shopping online. As a result the retailer increased its home shopping capacity with the opening of a third purpose-built picking centre in Nottingham last month, creating more than 600 new jobs.

The 120,000 square feet centre has the appearance of ‘a store without customers’ and includes a team of bakers hard at work preparing fresh bread from 4am, a home-baked pizza counter producing bespoke pizzas, as well as offering customers extended delivery slots between 6am and 11pm and access to a product range of more than 25,000 items, with everything from fresh fish to local suppliers. Asda is also offering local businesses a special trade rate on deliveries.

Asda is also investing in Click and Collect facilities for George clothing and General Merchandise in all of its 568 stores and customers will be able to collect grocery shopping from almost 200 outlets by the end of 2013, including from stores and lockers at Asda petrol stations.

This is in addition to the Collect Plus deal announced in March, where customers can buy George and Asda Direct items online and collect or return them at more than 5,000 convenience stores and petrol stations in the UK.

Performance in the grocery Click and Collect business is outperforming expectations, with the format now accounting for four per cent of all grocery home shopping orders from a standing start in Autumn 2012. A new ‘drive thru’ Click and Collect facility in York is a world first – combining food and non-food collection orders in one place meaning a customer can pick up a barbeque alongside bananas, without leaving their car.

More innovation around Click and Collect, where customers can order online and collect from a store, is planned for the remainder of 2013, including ‘same day’ delivery on food grocery orders, another world first.

In the remainder of the year, the retailer will also open 10 new stores, including four new small format supermarkets, five superstores and one new non-food outlets. This is in addition to two stores that have already opened in 2013 in Coventry (Asda Living) and Larkhall, near Glasgow (Asda supermarket) that have already opened. The total new stores will together add over 340,000 square feet of net selling space in 2013.

Asda which has been voted Britain’s lowest price supermarket for 15 years, is part of the world’s biggest retailer Walmart, and currently employs over 175,000 people in 568 stores and depots across the UK. It is also the second largest supermarket in the UK. The news comes ahead of the publication of Asda’s Q1 results on May 16th.

• New national price cap means any drivers filling up at an Asda fuel station will pay no more than 131.7ppl on unleaded petrol and 135.7ppl on diesel.

From tomorrow morning (Saturday 20th April) drivers filling up at any of Asda’s 217 forecourts nationwide will pay no more than 131.7ppl on unleaded and 135.7 ppl on diesel. The retailer today reacted quickly to the latest reductions in wholesale costs on unleaded and diesel by immediately passing the savings on to their customers.

The cut provides some good news for hard pressed motorists as we head towards the bank holiday. Following a recent study* by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) the average family could save up to £45 a year by filling up at Asda.

The move from Asda is the latest price cut in the last three weeks, meaning its fuel prices have cumulatively dropped by up to 4ppl on both unleaded and diesel.

Whilst Asda remains the only supermarket to have a national price cap when it cuts the price of fuel, ensuring drivers know what they will pay at the pump regardless of where they live, other fuel retailers are getting away with charging some drivers up to 6 pence per litre difference across their sites.

Andy Peake, Asda’s Petrol Trading Director said: “We’re pleased to be reducing the price of fuel yet again for all our customers. Our national price cap benefits everyone across the country, meaning that no-one filling up at Asda will be forced to pay a premium for their fuel because of where they live.”

Savvy motorists can also check how much they will save on fuel by using Asda’s petrol price comparison site powered by independent price checker www.petrolprices.com which enables drivers across the UK to find the lowest priced fuel before they fill up.

For further information contact: Asda Press Office, 0113 8262829.

• To request a copy of the report please email clair.hufton@asda.co.uk