Asda has grown its online delivery capacity to one million weekly slots in the final run-up to Christmas, up from 765,000 in quarter four of 2020.
The million slots in the last week before Christmas will see Asda hitting a goal it set in 2020.
Announcing its quarter three trading update, Asda said it had also chartered its own cargo ship to protect the availability of key festive products including decorations, toys, clothing and gifts.
Like-for-like sales excluding fuel were down 0.7% year on year in the three months to 30 September but up 2% on a two-year, pre-pandemic basis. Revenue stood at £4.9bn.
Like-for-like food sales were up 3.4% on a two-year basis, helped by Asda adding over 200 new lines to its premium ‘Extra Special’ own-label range in 2021, a response to the continued “lockdown trend of customers treating themselves”.
It had made Extra Special the fastest-growing premium range of the big four supermarkets and the discounters, growing ahead of the total market by 8% based on Kantar Worldpanel data, Asda said.
Online sales were down 2.7% year on year but up 80% on a two-year basis.
The supermarket enhanced its online offer with the launch of one-hour ‘Express Delivery’ in June, a service that has since rolled out to 147 stores.
It had also expanded its rapid delivery partnership with Uber Eats to more than 300 stores, it said.
The extra Christmas delivery capacity had come with the recruitment of 15,000 temporary staff for the festive period.
Asda said it had also increased the volume of turkeys and pigs in blankets in store compared with last year, as well as stockpiling more supplies of festive products such as mince pies, confectionery, Christmas cakes and puddings.
‘Asda On The Move’ convenience stores had now been opened on 30 EG forecourts, following the acquisition of the supermarket by TDR Capital and EG owners Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa last year.
Like-for-like clothing sales were up by 1.2% year on year, with the back-to-school range proving popular. However, like-for-like general merchandise sales were 3.1% down on quarter three of 2020, when sales were boosted by lockdown-related spending on homes and gardens.
“We know how much Christmas means to our customers, especially after some missed out on celebrations with friends and family last year,” said Mohsin and Zuber Issa.
“Our colleagues have pulled out all the stops during the last few months to make sure customers can get their favourite festive products at Asda and enjoy the Christmas they deserve – and we’d like to thank them for their continued effort and commitment to serving our customers.
“Looking ahead, our plans to rollout Asda On The Move remain firmly on track and will open up significant growth opportunities in the convenience channel. We are also highly encouraged by the early uptake of our Asda Rewards loyalty programme and look forward to bringing this trial to customers in more stores next year.”
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