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Asda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Industry Retail
Brands Brands
Owner EG Group
TDR Capital[6]
Walmart (equity investment)
Number of 165,000[7]
employees
Asda Mobile
Subsidiaries
Asda Money
Website www.asda.com
A bust of co-founder Peter Asquith outside Asda House in Leeds
Contents
1History
o 1.1Early years
o 1.21960s and 1970s
o 1.31980s & 1990s
1.3.1Near bankruptcy and merger prospects
o 1.42000s & 2010s: Walmart years
1.4.1Abandoned merger with Sainsbury's
o 1.5Acquisition by EG Group
2Store formats
o 2.1Asda Supercentres
o 2.2Asda Superstores
o 2.3Asda Supermarket
o 2.4Asda Living
o 2.5George stores
o 2.6Asda Essentials
o 2.7Asda Petrol
3Brands and services
o 3.1Asda Smart Price
o 3.2Chosen By You
o 3.3George clothing
o 3.4Asda Mobile
o 3.5Asda Money
o 3.6Medicine
4Distribution
5Employee relations
6Marketing
o 6.1Campaigns
o 6.2Energy Drinks
o 6.3Ethical trading
o 6.4Charities
7Controversies
o 7.1Dairy price fixing
o 7.2False and misleading advertising
o 7.32013 horsemeat scandal
8Award
9See also
10References
11External links
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
The Asquith family were butchers based in Knottingley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
In the 1920s, they expanded their business to seven butchers shops in the area.
Their sons, Peter and Fred, later became founding members of Asda. [13]
Around the same time, a group of West Riding dairy farmers, including the Stockdale
family and Craven Dairies, joined together under the banner of J.W Hindell Dairy
Farmers Ltd. The company diversified in 1949 to become Associated Dairies and
Farm Stores Ltd, with Arthur Stockdale as the managing director. [14]
1960s and 1970s[edit]
In 1963, the Asquith brothers converted an old cinema, the Queens in Castleford,
into a self-service supermarket. Another followed in the old indoor market
at Edlington. Both stores traded under the name of 'Queens'. Their next store was a
purpose-built supermarket in South Elmsall, a town in which Asda has a distribution
centre to this day.[13]
In 1965, the Asquith brothers approached Associated Dairies to run the butchery
departments within their small store chain. A merger was proposed and the Asquiths'
business was joined with Noel Stockdale's to form a new company, Asda (Asquith
+ Dairies) (capitalised from 1985).[14]
By 1967, the company had set up a store in Billingham, County Durham. By 1969,
Noel Stockdale bought out the Asquith brothers' stake and became chairman of the
company.[14]
Asda took advantage of the abolition of retail price maintenance to offer large-scale,
low-cost supermarkets. This was aided by the decision to acquire three struggling
US-owned branches in the mid-1960s of the GEM retail group. The Government
Exchange Mart stores in Preston, Lancashire, Cross Gates, Leeds and West
Bridgford had accumulated losses of £320,000 and offered to sell the stores for 20%
of whatever Asda could recoup as losses from the Inland Revenue. They received
the whole amount back. The rent was only 10 shillings (50p) per square foot on a 20-
year lease, with no rent reviews, Asda increased GEM's £6,000 per week sales to
around £60,000 per week in just six months with the new stores named as Asda. [15][16]
During the 1970s, with over 30 stores in the north of England, Asda began
expanding south, with the opening of new stores in the Estover area
of Plymouth, Devon and Gosport, Hampshire in 1977.[17] In 1978, Asda
acquired Allied Carpets.[18]
In 1982, the first London store opened until 1982, in Park Royal, near Ealing.
The Isle of Dogs and Charlton, London stores followed on rapidly thereafter. [19]
1980s & 1990s[edit]
In 1984, Managing Director, John Hardman, made attempts to halt Asda's decline,
which included the introduction of Asda branded products. [20] In 1985, Asda merged
with MFI (Mullard Furniture Industries) and the group was renamed Asda-MFI Group
plc.[21]
Asda established its headquarters at "Asda House". The site was officially opened in
1988, by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.[22]
By the end of the 1990s, the 'Asdale'-named clothing range was replaced by the
clothing ranges from the newly formed George Davies partnership with Asda.[23]
Near bankruptcy and merger prospects [edit]
With stores mainly based in the North of England, the newly focused food retail
group expanded further south in 1989 by purchasing the large format stores of rival
Gateway Superstores for £705 million. This significantly increased Asda's total
selling area, but the company had borrowed heavily in order to fund the purchase -
city estimates suggested that Asda had overpaid by around £300 million for 61 of the
largest Gateway stores, two undeveloped store sites and a distribution centre. That
was far above the net book value of the locations, some of which were poorly sited.
(Asda has subsequently relocated or rebuilt more than 30 of the original Gateway
stores since the late 1990s.) The move left the company overstretched as a result,
and by 1991, it found itself in serious financial trouble with over £1 billion of debt;
compounding the situation further was a declining customer base, which was mainly
caused by Asda's focus on moving upmarket resulting in prices rising to levels
significantly higher than competitors. [24]
Eventually, a combination of flagging profits, a tremendous debt and a loss of
customers left Asda in such an egregious financial situation that they came very
close to breaching their banking covenants; at one point, they almost
entered administration. The company's first response was to change its
management; chairman John Hardman was ousted in June 1991 and was replaced
by Patrick Gillam, and Archie Norman was appointed chief executive in October.
Asda then completed a rights issue in November 1991 that raised £357 million and
cut the company's debts to £668 million. In May 1992, Asda reduced their prices
back to their traditional level (5-7% below competitors) and announced that they
would eliminate over 500 management positions. In 1993, Asda completed a second
rights issue that raised a further £347 million and began selling off some of its
assets; some stores were sold to competitors, and the Allied Carpets chain was
notably sold to Carpetland. By 1995, the company had returned to profitability and
had virtually wiped out its debt - this is cited as one of the most successful
turnarounds in British retail history.[25]
Norman succeeded Gillam as chairman upon the latter's retirement in 1996,
appointing then-deputy Allan Leighton as chief executive, and began to remodel
Asda's stores along the lines of Walmart, the world's largest retailer.[26] Leighton
travelled to Bentonville, Arkansas to assess and photograph the systems and
marketing deployed by Walmart.[27] In 1998, following the Walmart model, Asda
began opening larger 'Hypermarket' (later 'Supercentre') stores as well as
introducing pharmacies and cafes to its stores. At the same time, merger discussions
were taking place between Asda and other retailers such as Safeway and Kingfisher
plc; both collapsed without an agreement being reached, but in 1999, a second
round of discussions with Kingfisher later reached an agreement for a £5.4 billion
merger that would have both created the United Kingdom's largest multi-category
retailer and enabled Asda to begin operating stores throughout Europe. [28]
2000s & 2010s: Walmart years[edit]
A merger deal was abandoned when Walmart outbid Kingfisher to purchase Asda for
£6.7 billion, which was completed on 26 July 1999 [29] in a move that was initially
speculated by British media outlets as a potential corporate raid.[30] Shortly after the
takeover, Norman resigned as chairman and left the company to pursue his political
career; he was succeeded as chairman by Leighton. As Walmart were keen on
entering the British Market,[31] Bob Martin, Walmart's president of international
operations, lobbied Prime Minister Tony Blair on planning issues.[32]
In 2005, amid reported concerns within Walmart about a slippage in market share,
partially due to a resurgent Sainsbury's, Asda's chief executive, Tony De Nunzio left,
and was replaced by Andy Bond. In 2005, Asda expanded into Northern Ireland by
purchasing 12 former Safeway stores from Morrisons.[33][34]
Asda's property development arm, Gazeley Limited, was sold to Economic Zones
World (EZW), a Dubai World subsidiary, in June 2008 for in excess of £300m.[35]
In November 2008, there were reports that Asda was to buy Irish retailer Dunnes
Stores.[36]
In April 2010, Asda announced plans to open over 100 new non-food stores as part
of an ambitious five-year plan. These plans were mothballed shortly after because of
the recession and the reining in of spending by consumers on non-food purchases. [37]
In August 2009, Walmart sold Asda for £6.9 billion to its Leeds-based investment
subsidiary Corinth Services Limited.[38] The deal was described as part of a "group
restructuring" and meant Asda remained under the control of Walmart, since Corinth
is itself a Walmart subsidiary.[39]
On 11 May 2010, Andy Clarke, the chief operating officer, was appointed as CEO. [40]
In May 2010, Asda bought the original Netto UK supermarket chain in a £778 million
deal.[41]
In February 2011, Asda announced the purchase of six stores from Focus DIY; five
of these were converted into supermarkets later that year. [42][43]
In 2015, Asda adopted Walmart's slogan: "Save Money. Live Better". [44]
In June 2016, it was announced that Andy Clarke, CEO since 2010, would be
replaced by Sean Clarke, the head of parent company Walmart's operations in
China.[45][46][47]
In October 2017, Asda announced that the current CEO, Sean Clarke would be
replaced by Roger Burnley, the deputy CEO, from 1 January 2018, and the sixth
CEO since 2000.[48][49]
In November 2017, Asda recruited Jesús Lorente, from French hypermarket
retailer Carrefour. He became CMO (Chief Merchandising Officer), in January 2018,
and was put in charge of the fresh food and general merchandise offer within all
stores. After reportedly clashing with Roger Burnley and only six months in his post,
Lorente left Asda at the end of July 2018. His role was divided up between Burnley
and Anthony Hemmerdinger.[50]
Abandoned merger with Sainsbury's[edit]
In April 2018, Sainsbury's and Walmart announced negotiations about a possible
merger of Sainsbury's and Asda, creating the largest supermarket chain in the UK.
[51]
Under the plans, Walmart would own 42% of the combined business, [52] which
would be led by the existing chief executive of Sainsbury's, Mike Coupe. The group
would also open branches of Argos within Asda stores. The merger underwent
intense scrutiny by a cross-party group of MPs, chairing select committees for the
proposed merger, along with the Competition and Markets Authority, investigating
the impact of how the deal could negatively affect the retail industry by a possible
reduction of consumer choice for shoppers resulting in price rises, and of how
suppliers, especially smaller, family-owned companies could be squeezed by the
combined group. The CMA were inundated with complaints by suppliers and other
major retailers of the damage they felt would be inflicted upon them if the deal was
approved.[53] On 25 April 2019 the CMA blocked the proposed merger, suggesting
that it would increase prices for consumers and make competition unfair for the other
UK retailers, Sainsbury's then announced that it was abandoning the merger. [54]
Acquisition by EG Group[edit]
In February 2021, EG Group (led by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital) acquired
Asda. Walmart retains "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an
ongoing commercial relationship".[11] The deal came after an acquisition by
Sainsbury's was rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority.[12][6]
In February 2021, Asda said that it might need to put 5,000 jobs at risk as part of
reconstruction plan in the context of people shopping online. [55]
In March 2021, Asda was involved in the "largest ever sterling bond offering" as part
of the financing package to fund the acquisition purchase by TDR Capital and the
Issa brothers.[56]
Store formats[edit]
Asda Supercentres[edit]
Following the takeover by Walmart, several "Asda Walmart Supercentres" have been
opened, creating some of the largest hypermarkets in the United Kingdom. Since
2006, all new Supercentres have been solely branded as Asda Supercentre without
the Walmart branding. The first Supercentre with a sales area of
8,600 m2 (93,000 sq ft) opened in Patchway, Bristol in the summer of 2000. The first
Scottish Supercentre opened in Livingston, in 2001.[57] The Bletchley, Milton
Keynes Supercentre which opened in November 2005 is currently the largest Asda
Supercentre with a net sales floor of over 11,000 m2 (120,000 sq ft).[58] This was
preceded in June 2002 by the Eastlands, Manchester store which was the largest
store at the time with a sales area of 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) but is currently the
second largest Asda Supercentre, and the third largest is located in Minworth, West
Midlands, followed by Patchway. As of 31 January 2021, there are 32 Supercentres.
[4]
Asda Superstores[edit]
Asda superstores are large supermarkets with a non-food offer slightly smaller than
an Asda Supercentre. As of 31 January 2021, there are 342 superstores. Most
superstores have a petrol filling station and dining and refreshment facilities for
shoppers such as customer cafes, and selected stores have McDonald's franchise
restaurants or "Express Diners" The Old Kent
Road, Scunthorpe and Colindale stores are trialling a Subway franchise. There are
currently no plans to roll the Subway franchise out across the chain. [4]
Asda Superstore in West Bridgford, Nottingham. The Asda logo is on the front of the building
located at the far right of this photograph (out of shot).
This Asda Superstore, in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, which replaced an older store on the same site
in 1999, has been given a refurbishment and updated logo since this picture was taken.
Asda Supermarket[edit]
In May 2010, Asda announced the purchase of the 193 UK stores of Danish discount
retailer Netto in a £778 million deal. But the Competition Commission made them sell
off 47 of the stores to other retailers. The remaining stores continued to trade as
Netto stores until early 2011, when Asda integrated the stores into its supermarkets
division, designated for shops smaller than 2,300 m2 (25,000 sq ft).[59] These former
Netto stores form the core of the Asda Supermarket format. [60] As of 31 January 2021,
there are 207 supermarkets.[4]
Asda Living[edit]
In October 2003, Asda launched a new format called Asda Living. This is the
company's first "general merchandise" store, containing all its non-food ranges
including clothing, home electronics, toys, homewares, health, and beauty products.
With these stores they have linked up with Compass Group who operate the coffee
shop Living Cafe within some of the stores. The first store with this format opened
in Walsall, West Midlands. As at 31 January 2021, there are 33 stores. [4]
George stores[edit]
In 2004, the George clothing brand was extended to a number of standalone George
stores on the high street; the first George standalone store to open was in Preston.
In 2008, all George standalone stores were closed due to high rental costs resulting
in low profitability.[61]
In 2011, Asda announced its intention to establish a small number of pilot George
stores.[62] In January 2012 Asda announced that it had agreed to terms with two
franchise partners to open international George stores. Through the agreement with
SandpiperCI, based in the Channel Islands, the company will be responsible for
opening George franchises in both Jersey and Guernsey, and through the Azadea
Group, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, the George franchise stores would open in
the Middle East.[63]
Asda Essentials[edit]
In April 2006, Asda launched a new trial format called 'Asda Essentials'
in Northampton, followed by another in Pontefract a month later.[64] The stores were
modelled on France's Leader Price chain, with a smaller floorplate than Asda's
mainstream stores and with a primary focus on own-brand products, only stocking
branded items that were perceived to be at the "core" of a family's weekly shop with
the aim being to challenge the dominance of Tesco and Sainsbury's in the
convenience store market while at the same time addressing competition from
discount supermarkets such as Aldi, Lidl and Netto.[64] On 6 December 2006, The
Guardian reported that further planned store openings were under review following
poor sales in the existing outlets, while the range of branded products being carried
was also being expanded due to customer demand. [64] In January 2007 it was
announced that the original Northampton trial store would close within a month after
only 10 months of trading.[65]
Asda Petrol[edit]
In 2012, Asda trialled a new standalone petrol filling station format (which means that
they are not attached to or near an existing Asda store) at two locations in Sale,
Greater Manchester and Leeds Bridge, which is located opposite head office. They
include a small convenience store and click and collect facilities. The trial was a
success and in 2014, a full roll out of this format was announced after a third site
opened in Northolt, West London. In February 2015, 15 petrol filling stations were
acquired from Rontec Ltd, and converted to the new format. Asda originally aimed to
have at least 100 standalone forecourts by 2018. However, in October 2015, the
company decided to slow the roll out down to address the problems associated with
a major collapse of profits from its large store formats due to intense competition
from its main rivals. But, the company is still continuing to add a combination of fully
automated credit/debit card payment only petrol stations and petrol stations with
traditional forecourt shops within the car parks of its existing store portfolio and to
new store sites.[4]
Asda was also the first supermarket chain in the United Kingdom to sell petrol at its
old Halifax store in 1967, which at the time was located inside a converted mill in
Battinson Road which burnt down during a major fire in 1982, and subsequently
reopened as a purpose-built store in 1983, without the petrol station. The store
moved to a different site in 2004. Back then its forecourt fuel was supplied by
discount Russian supplier Nafta, because the major oil companies would not supply
fuel to be sold at discount prices. From the early seventies, oil companies such as
Mobil, Shell and Texaco supplied fuel to Asda as more supermarkets started to sell
fuel from car park forecourts. Since the mid-1990s Asda has supplied, along with its
main supermarket rivals, its own fuel delivered by its own tankers to its petrol station
forecourts. As of June 2018, Asda operates 319 petrol stations in total, 18 of which
are standalone and the others mostly within the car park area of its stores. [4]
Asda also operates a mobile phone network called Asda Mobile, which was
launched in April 2007. This is provided in partnership with EE.[74]
Asda Money[edit]
Asda has a financial services brand which offers products provided by other
companies. Services offered include car insurance (provided by Brightside Insurance
Services), credit cards (provided by Creation Financial Services) and travel money
bureaux (provided by Travelex). The financial services division of the organisation
does not directly sell these services in store and instead uses the supplier of that
product by telephone or online/postal application. Marketing and management of
financial services is co-ordinated in house and many stores have a financial services
co-ordinator, responsible for promoting the products and ensuring legal compliance.
The Financial Services division is also responsible for gift cards, Christmas Saver
and Business Rewards.[75]
Medicine[edit]
Many larger stores have a pharmacy. In July 2020 the company started an in-store
virtual general practitioner service in partnership with health tech
company Medicspot. It is to be launched at the Asda Supercentre in Stevenage.
Real-time diagnostics - a connected stethoscope, pulse oximeter, blood pressure
monitor, contactless thermometer, and a close inspection camera - will be available
in the pharmacy and patients can consult a GP remotely without the need to book an
appointment in advance. It was initially free, but after 4 July costs £49. [76] The ASDA
pharmacy in Chelmsley Wood joined with local GP practices to deliver flu vaccination
from a van parked outside in October 2020. [77]
Distribution[edit]
Asda has 25 distribution depots across the UK.[78] Three of Asda's distribution centres
(Rochdale CDC, Doncaster GM & Larne (Northern Ireland) are outsourced to
Wincanton PLC.[79]
Employee relations[edit]
The company has featured prominently in lists of "Best companies to work for",
appearing in second place in The Times newspaper list for 2005.[80] It offers staff
a discount of 10% on most items (exceptions include fuel, stamps, lottery, giftcards
and tobacco related items).[81]
The company was fined £850,000 in 2006 for offering 340 staff at a Dartford depot a
pay rise in return for giving up a union collective bargaining agreement.[82] Poor
relations continued as Asda management attempted to introduce new rights and
working practices shortly thereafter at another centre in Washington, Tyne and
Wear.[83]
Some compromise was reached by June of that year, when a five-day strike was
called off after Asda management and the GMB union reached an agreement.[84]
Relations have improved since, with both Asda and the GMB marking the death of a
worker together on Workers' Memorial Day in 2010.[85]
In 2013, tens of thousands of Asda workers across the UK were hit with a tax
complication because of an anomaly in Asda's payroll system. Asda employees
receive their pay every four weeks, which meant, according to their spokesperson,
that once every 20 years they are paid 14 times a year rather than 13. Whilst most
companies handle this properly, Asda's payroll system did not, which meant that
workers had, through no fault of their own, paid less tax for the year than they should
have. This resulted in most full-time and a small number of part-time workers
receiving a demand from HM Revenue & Customs for between £72 and £160.[86]
In 2016 Asda became involved in a protracted equal pay dispute with its lower-paid
shop staff, supported by GMB. 44,000 employees argued that mostly female shop
staff could compare their pay with higher paid mostly male warehouse workers,
under the Equal Pay Act 1970 and Equality Act 2010. In March 2021 the employees
won a Supreme Court ruling upholding an earlier court ruling permitting the action,
and enabling employment tribunal action to decide "equal value" claims. Asda stated
"This ruling relates to one stage of a complex case that is likely to take several years
to reach a conclusion."[87] The claim could lead to about £500 million of compensation
to lower paid employees.[88]
Marketing[edit]
Campaigns[edit]
In the 'Asda price' campaign,[89] customers tap their trouser pocket twice, producing a
'chinking' sound as the coins that Asda's low prices have supposedly left in their
pockets knock together. The pocket tap ads were launched in 1977 and over the
next 30 years, a range of celebrities have been "tappers", including from 1978,
actors Richard Beckinsale, Paula Wilcox and James Bolam. And later, Julie Walters,
and football player Michael Owen. In the late 1970s, adverts also included
actor Leonard Rossiter.[90]
In 1980, Carry On actress Hattie Jacques appeared in the advert as a school
crossing patrol officer.[91] Between 1981 and 1985, Asda used the slogan 'All
Together Better' in conjunction with the 'Asda Price' pocket tap campaign in TV
commercials and newspaper and magazine advertisements. When the new green
capitalised ASDA logo started to appear from 1985, in early 1986 onwards and until
early 1989, two slogans were used. The first, 'You'd be off your trolley to go
anywhere else', was replaced in 1987 by 'One trip and you're laughing'. [92]
In 1989, and until late 1991, before the reintroduction of the pocket tap campaign,
advertising for Asda had featured the Fairground Attraction song "Perfect" with the
slogan 'It 'Asda be Asda', which was based upon the lyrics of the song. When the
Asda Price slogan was reintroduced in 1992, the strapline Pocket the Difference
(capitalised) was added alongside it. This was replaced by Permanently Low Prices,
Forever in 1996.[93]
From 1990 to 1991, Asda were the sponsors of Sheffield Wednesday F.C..[94]
In the smiley face "rollback" campaign, also used by Walmart, a CGI smiley face
bounced from price tag to price tag, knocking them down as customers watch. [95] In
2006, Asda advertising was themed around singing children and the slogan "More
for you for less".[96]
For Christmas 2007, Asda reintroduced the "That's Asda price" slogan. [97]
In 2008, the company refocused on price with a "Why Pay More?" campaign both on
TV and in stores. Asda TV commercials in April 2009 focused on price comparisons
between Asda and its rivals, using information from mySupermarket. The music
being used in these adverts is the Billy Childish version of the classic Dad's
Army theme tune. The old Asda jingle is not included in these, [98] but appeared in a
2008 Christmas advert.[99]
In August 2005, rival supermarket chain Tesco challenged Asda's ability to use the
claim that it was the cheapest supermarket in the country, by complaining to
the Advertising Standards Agency. The ASA upheld the complaint and ordered Asda
to stop using it.[100]
Energy Drinks[edit]
In January 2018 Asda became one of the first supermarkets to ban selling energy
drinks such as Red Bull to under 16's.[101]
Ethical trading[edit]
Asda has signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) which respects workers'
rights for freedom of association and a living wage. Implementing this initiative is
difficult, however, because the concept of a living wage varies by country and the
buying strategies of a major importer like Asda have an indirect impact on national
minimum wages by obliging governments to set them low enough to stop businesses
from going elsewhere.[102] Industry pressure groups such as Labour Behind the
Label and War on Want have argued that Asda and other budget retailers use
unethical labour practices in the developing world to keep UK prices low. [103][104]
The National Farmers' Union, representing UK farmers and growers, has argued that
Asda and other major supermarkets have made large profits and kept consumer
prices low "by squeezing suppliers' margins to the point where many of them have
gone out of business".[105] Asda have also refused to sign up to and donate to the
Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, to donate compensation to the families of workers in
Bangladesh killed when their factory building in Rana Plaza collapsed in 2013.
Instead, Asda donated an undisclosed sum to the poverty relief charity Building
Relationships Across Communities, who in turn pledged around £1.3m to the fund.
Campaigners believe Asda is unwilling to set a precedent on indemnity pay for large
scale industrial accidents.[106]
In 2009, Asda's Valentine's Day roses, sold at £2 for a dozen, were said to be
ethically sourced by the supermarket. This claim went against research carried out
by War on Want.[107]
Charities[edit]
Asda supports the following charities through its stores:
Controversies[edit]
Dairy price fixing[edit]
In December 2007, Asda, Sainsbury's and other retailers and dairy firms admitted to
the price fixing of dairy products between 2002 and 2003.[112] The price operation was
calculated to have cost consumers around £270 million.[113]
Asda commented, "Everyone at Asda regrets what happened, particularly as we are
passionate about lowering prices. Our intention was to provide more money for dairy
farmers, who were under severe financial pressure at the time."[114] In total, Asda was
fined £18.21 million by the Office of Fair Trading for its part in the cartel.[115]
False and misleading advertising[edit]
In 2010, a national press ad for Asda on a double-page spread was headed "The big
Asda Rollback" with headings stating "Lower prices on everything you buy, week in
week out" with equal prominence to a column headed "Lower prices than any other
supermarket"; that the arrows underneath the heading "Lower prices than any other
supermarket" compared prices at Asda with prices at Sainsbury's, Tesco and
Morrisons. The ASA ruled that in the context in which it appeared, it was ambiguous
in that it could be interpreted either as referring to price reductions that had taken
place within Asda or to price comparisons with the named competitors. In addition,
because the ad did not explain that the price reductions had not necessarily taken
place in the week that immediately preceded the ad, they concluded that the
headings which stated the number of price reductions that had taken place in each
product category were misleading. The ASA also concluded that the "Lower prices
than any other supermarket" claim in the advert was misleading. [116]
The ASA disagreed, and referred to the claim "Everything is at least half price!" was
likely to imply to viewers that all toys were included in the sale. As all toys were not
included in the sale, and in the absence of a qualifying statement, the ad was
misleading.[117]
The ASA ruled that a television advertisement in 2011 for the new Asda price
guarantee was misleading in that the small on-screen text that stated "Exclusions
apply" was not sufficient to warn viewers that the Asda price guarantee did not apply
to non-grocery items.[118]
The ASA also ruled against two national press ads one which showed hardback and
children's books and one that showed football related items with text stating "If your
grocery shopping could have cost less elsewhere we'll give you the difference -
Guaranteed!". Although each advert had "Exclusions apply" and that other text
stated "If your grocery shopping could have cost less elsewhere we'll give you the
difference", it felt that given the prominent appearance of the hardback and children's
activity books and football related items and the prominent appearance of the logo
"ASDA Price GUARANTEE" and "Guaranteed!", they considered the footnote and
other text referred to above was not sufficient to warn readers that non-grocery items
particularly those included in the advertisement were not included in the Asda price
guarantee.[118]
Another advertisement from Asda, in which it featured World Cup related products
and an Asda price guarantee was misleading as the World Cup related products
were exclusive to Asda and not, therefore, available at Morrisons, Tesco or
Sainsbury's.[118]
In 2009, the ASA challenged whether a press ad which showed a large green arrow
bearing down on a smaller yellow arrow with a crumpled tip and "Asda 2955
products cheaper" should set out how the general price claims made in the ads could
be verified by consumers. Because it was not possible for consumers or competitors
to check the products and prices used in the comparison using
mySupermarket.co.uk, and because the ads did not set out how consumers and
competitors could check that information for themselves, the ASA concluded that the
ads did not satisfy the criterion of verifiability as defined in the 2006 European Court
of Justice ruling, and were therefore in breach of the advertising Codes. [119]
The ASA ruled that, due to the significant limitations and qualifications to the basis of
the price comparison which were not included in the ad, or in the terms and
conditions on Asda's website, the approach taken in making the comparisons was
unfair and misleading.[120]
A press ad, which appeared on 26 September 2011, was headlined "Only one
supermarket is ... always 10% cheaper or we'll give you the difference guaranteed".
However, at the top of the ad there was a banner that contained the claims "SALE",
"Half Price", "Price Drop", "50% off", "1/2 price", "cheap" and that part of the headline
claim "... always 10% cheaper" appeared in bold text in the middle of the ad. The
ASA considered the banner, together with the headline was likely to be interpreted
by consumers as claims that referred to the price of Asda goods. Since consumers
could interpret that claim as one which guaranteed to refund the difference, should
Asda not be the lowest on price, the ASA considered the presence of the claim "only
one supermarket is always 10% cheaper" could create the impression that Asda
were always 10% cheaper and would be interpreted as a 'lowest price' claim. The
ASA therefore concluded that the advert was misleading. It also noted the footnote
explaining the APG contradicted Asda's absolute claim that they were always the
lowest on price, and that the disclaimer was also misleading. [121]
In 2009, a four-page regional press wraparound included several maps and images
of a proposed development in New Barnet, and described the benefits the
development would bring to the local area. The advert included a development site
plan and map, which marked out the proposed Asda store, the existing Sainsbury
store and the sites of the proposed, approved and existing Tesco stores. Because it
was not clear that the marked-out area relating to the Asda store was for only the
store floorspace, whereas the marked-out area relating to the Sainsburys store
included store floorspace and additional buildings, and the marked-out area relating
to the proposed Tesco area was not based on an approved plan, the ASA concluded
the advertisement was misleading.[122]
2013 horsemeat scandal[edit]
See also: 2013 horse meat scandal
Award[edit]
March 2009: Voted Innovative Employer of the Year, at the Oracle Retail Week
Awards.[124]
See also[edit]
Yorkshire portal
Food portal
Companies portal
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Official website
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EG Group
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Walmart
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