Asda Dewsbury: store of the week

We’ve had feedback that morale in Asda stores is very low following the restructure. How are things in your store? The restructure was a really pressurised time. What helped was that I really believed it was the right thing for the business. So it was tough, but worth it. We recently did a ‘your voice’ survey with staff at our store and morale has increased 10% year on year, despite the restructure. The new section leaders are settled in, and other staff are being supportive.

Why do you think Asda has been outperforming its big four rivals recently? Asda is ahead on offers and PoS. Our George clothes and homeware are really popular in Dewsbury and get people in. I also think customers like Asda for not doing vouchering - our prices and offers are clear. Customers today are going to shop around for different deals, but at Asda what they see is what they get.

How have shopping habits changed at your store? Most of our customers work long hours so our click & collect service has been really popular. Not as many people have time to do a big weekly shop anymore, but click & collect is bringing that back - the basket spend is much higher than in-store spends. Asda is really focused on dotcom growth and our customers are embracing it.

Why do you think your store won the G33 this week? We have so many staff on the shop floor and they have a great attitude - there’s a good atmosphere that shoppers pick up on. We have selling and community champions in-store - our competitors don’t. Our staff have also raised over £120,000 for the community, so the store is really connected to the local area.

How does the store do this? The area is very mixed ethnically and we’ve got a wide variety of product ranges, so as well as core products we have halal foods. Customers were asking for a Polish range, and now we have one; it’s very popular.