Asda is setting the scene for another summer of supermarket price wars as it raises the stakes on the £70m investment Tesco announced earlier this month. The multiple is taking over £100m off its complete range over the next four months in a bid "to widen the gap over competitors". It has made the reductions to pass on efficiencies brought by barcode scanning technology called Breakthrough, which has already gone live in 100 Asda stores. The Wal-Mart technology, which will be rolled out to all stores, means gaps on the shelf will be a thing of the past, said a spokeswoman. Asda has also announced it is to stock a third more products in a £10m US style revamp of the health and beauty aisles. Dedicated cosmetic counters will bring Asda in line with Wal-Mart. A spokeswoman said: "The new look will put us on a competitive par with Boots." It is now two years since Asda was taken over by Wal-Mart, and it has opened three co-branded superstores so far. A further two in Derby and Swindon will be completed this year, and superstores in Livingston and Manchester are in the pipeline. The spokeswoman said: "We are achieving record customer numbers. Two years ago we were seeing 6.5 million customers a week. That has leapt to eight million." {{NEWS }}

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