Asda says it will speed up investment as it looks to boost its multichannel services, including same-day grocery collection.
The supermarket said it would spend more on technology and infrastructure in order to increase both Click & Collect and its mobile capacity.
The pledge came as Asda said like-for-like sales in the second quarter had increased by 0.7%. Underpinning that growth, it said, was its investment in multiformat, multichannel sales.
Andy Clarke, president and chief executive of Asda, said: “We’re pleased with our results in a tough market. We continued to grow our sales while also investing in holding down the price of essentials, increasing access points to Asda’s value and putting money back in customers’ pockets when they need it the most.
“Our focus on opening up more ways for more customers to shop with us, particularly in areas currently underserved by Asda, provides us with real opportunity to grow space and channels to adapt our business to today’s customer.
“I’m confident this focus will continue to drive growth in a sustainable way.”
The investment will come in adding stores, petrol filling stations and Click & Collect sites. A same-day grocery collection service will be launched in Wakefield this month, and the company plans to expand grocery collection points to 250 sites by the end of the year.
Looking ahead, Asda said it expected 75% of customers to shop through multiple channels at Christmas.
Doug McMillon, international president and chief executive at Asda parent company Walmart, told analysts that the UK was an example of its strategy of investing in price on essential food items.
“In the UK, we continued to grow both sales and operating income, with operating income growing 7.5%.
“However the British consumer remains under pressure. Our price investment in food essentials and product continued throughout the quarter, a key traffic driver which meant we grew market share in this category. The result was lower inflation across the overall basket for our UK customers.”
