Will an Asda reset reclaim worker and shopper affections?

Asda has announced a major store reset, including £30m to be spent on putting more boots on the shop floor between now and Christmas.

It is a dramatic but necessary move by the supermarket, with the pressure mounting on Mohsin Issa and his TDR Capital backers to show they are not losing grip of the supermarket chain, ahead of what are expected to be a grim set of Q2 results next week.

For months now there have been questions over Asda’s turnaround strategy, but with its market share tanking and alarming revelations about staff morale, it does feel like the owners must now throw whatever resources are necessary at improving Asda’s misfiring stores or the problems could spiral out of control.

The £30m on extra hours will be welcome news to those shoppers – and sadly there are too many of them – who have witnessed unmanned checkouts, unavailable products and a general decline in store standards.

Asda staffing issues require attention

“We recognise that there are some areas where we can, and need to, improve, and have set out our plan for colleagues to improve the availability of products in stores, the overall customer experience, and ensuring we have the right trade plan throughout the remainder of the year,” says a spokesman for the retailer.

That is a frank admission, but it’s exactly the message customers want to hear and, more importantly, see result in action.

Asda also urgently needs to take a strategic look at its staffing issues.

Earlier this week, the The Daily Telegraph revealed the results of a staff survey that showed fewer than half of workers are confident in the strategy at the supermarket, with only 47% of respondents to the company’s annual questionnaire, which was completed last month, saying they felt confident in its long-term strategic plan.

Morale at Asda is in need of a lift

Meanwhile, only 48% of the 75,591 workers who filled in the survey said they felt they were able to explain the benefits of its IT overhaul, known as its ‘Future Programme’, which has resulted in major teething problems including thousands of staff receiving the wrong pay.

You wouldn’t perhaps expect the average Asda colleague to have much of an understanding about its IT ventures, but the overall impression of the survey shows morale is in desperate need of a lift, and a major store investment that tackles key customer problems at the same time as making staff happier, is exactly what’s needed.

While some will have little sympathy for the billionaires at the helm, Issa and co have, as Asda says, been tackling huge structural issues ever since the takeover from Walmart, and even their resources have been stretched.

But from now on, it must ensure it puts Asda’s supermarkets and key retail basics at the heart of everything it does. That way this can really be a reset and Asda can once again claim its place in the affections of shoppers and its workforce.