Asda Sales Fall 4.7%

sU.K. arm Asda reported a 4.7% fall in same-store sales in the second quarter, as the company continued to be hammered by a change in customer behavior and a vicious price war that has buffeted the U.K.’s largest grocers.

Sales at Yorkshire supermarket giant Asda have fallen for a fourth straight quarter, with chief executive Andy Clarke describing the performance as “disappointing, but a short-term picture”.

“Launching Brand Match online is part of the extensive work we’ve been doing to improve our website and our online service, being there for our customers whenever and wherever they want”.

Clarke said he will stick to a five year plan, which is three years through and involves cutting jobs and prices to compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl. They have also been hurt by falls in food prices, reflecting record commodity-led deflation.

J Sainsbury PLC said it is rolling out its Brand Match scheme, which compares the prices of thousands of branded products to rival supermarket Wal-Mart Stores Inc-owned Asda, to online orders from Wednesday.

Asda has been battling Sainsbury’s for the title of the UK’s second biggest supermarket; it now holds a 16.4pc share of the grocery market, compared with Sainsbury’s on 16.5 and Tesco on 28.5pc.

Presenting the company’s results on Tuesday, he labelled the turmoil in the supermarket sector “unprecedented” and said Asda had “hit its nadir”. If it is not, they will receive a money-off Brand Match coupon, up to the value of £10, that can be redeemed against their next online shop.