Asda is axing its Farm Stores range of discount lines in favour of a newly developed sub brand called Smart Price. It says Smart Price will be cheaper than products sold by the hard discounters. The move comes as US parent company Wal-Mart seeks to build on Asda's strength in private label food by rolling out its own ranges in the UK. Another is a premium line designed to compete with Tesco's Finest and Safeway's The Best. Sam's Choice ­ named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton ­ will undercut the prices of branded equivalents by 25% says Asda. That and Great Value are based on Wal-Mart's US range. Great Value replaces the current Asda own label range this month. Sainsbury and Tesco said they were not bothered by increased investment in Asda's own label. "It's our main strength. With 10,000 products we don't feel threatened by this," said a Sainsbury spokesman. And Tesco said Asda would have a "hard time" competing with Finest. Asda says the reason for introducing the ranges is EDLP ­ and forecasts consumers in the UK and Germany will save £100m next year as a result. But analysts say the move is more about educating UK consumers about Wal-Mart with a controlled drip of US initiatives. Investec's David Stoddart said: "This isn't about price ­ that's where Rollback comes in. It's about increasing the offer to consumers and ­ in Sam's Choice and Great Value ­ feeding information to shoppers about Wal-Mart." He said axing Farm Stores could be the start of a strategy to wean the UK away from Asda branding as it prepares to put the Wal-Mart name above its stores. {{NEWS }}

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