Asda looks set for a bleak Christmas as tumbling sales suggest it is struggling to win back shoppers.
Despite launching a price war with rivals earlier this year, industry figures show Asda was the worst performer among supermarkets over the three months to November 30.
Sales fell 4.3 per cent to £4.1billion over the period, making it the only major grocer to see a decline.
Asda’s market share has fallen from 12.4 per cent to 11.5 per cent in the past year, researcher Worldpanel said.
Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital, warned last week that the supermarket would be ‘the laggard’ this Christmas.
Chairman Allan Leighton admitted last month it must win back customers after losing business due to a botched IT transformation.
Left on the shelf: Industry figures show Asda was the worst performer among supermarkets over the three months to November 30
The UK’s third-largest supermarket is nearly a year into what Leighton reckons will be a three-to-five-year revival mission.
Asda’s market share has shrunk since its takeover four years ago by private equity firm TDR and the billionaire Issa brothers.
Some retail analysts are even predicting that Aldi could be weeks away from overtaking Asda as the UK’s number three behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Jonathan De Mello, retail analyst at JDM Retail, said: ‘Despite a supermarket price war, the reality on the ground is that shoppers are demonstrably cutting back, focusing on essentials and trading down to cheaper private labels.
‘Grocery price competition is barely making a dent in the core problem of household disposable income erosion.
‘Within this challenging landscape, some operators are finding the going tougher than others. Asda, in particular, continues to struggle, despite being the instigators of the price war.
‘Aldi is poised to overtake Asda in the grocery market share stakes imminently.’
Sales volumes at grocers were flat year on year in the period as shoppers traded down, said Worldpanel.
Grocery inflation held steady at 4.7 per cent for the four weeks to November 30, its data said, with pressure on cocoa, beef and coffee prices.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: ‘Although grocery price inflation is well below the highs we saw in 2023, prices are still rising, and consumers are making different choices to manage their budgets.’
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