Andy Bond has dismissed suggestions of a supermarket price war as fantasy, in an outspoken interview with the Daily Telegraph.
“The reality is that there is no price war, there never has been a price war,” said the former Asda boss, now chairman of online cycling retailer Wiggle.
“[The supermarkets] are extremely efficient, so they can lower prices and raise profits, but that’s not a price war. Just look at whether profits are going up or going down. The claims of cutting prices are totally irrelevant if profits are going up.”
He said the major supermarkets were collectively losing share due to “the genuine appeal of the discount sector” and claimed the mults “aren’t satisfying distressed consumers’ needs as much as they claim”.
Bond predicted Amazon would equal Wal-Mart as the world’s largest retailer by 2020 and also offered his views on Tesco.
“People were overly indulgent of its success and are overly critical of its failure – neither is as extreme as it appears. The reality is that Tesco was trying to make too much money out of the UK. But it’s a formidable company and will sort itself. It’s by no means broken.”
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