Boss of US retailing giant Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, said that he would not rest until its UK subsidiary Asda had overtaken Tesco to become the nation’s No1 supermarket.
Scott told The Sun: “Our focus has always been on growing. Overtaking Tesco is not achievable in a short space of time — but, in business, you get what you deserve.”
Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons are awaiting the findings of the Competition Commission’s to see who will win the takeover battle for the UK’s fourth largest supermarket Safeway.
Scott insisted British shoppers would gain from an Asda takeover. He recalled what happened after Wal-Mart paid £6.9bn for Asda four years ago. “We were buying our Christmas tree lights from the same people as Asda.
“The only difference was that the manufacturer was selling them to a middle-man, who sold them to another middle-man, who sold them on to another middle-man, who sold them to Asda.
“We ended up buying the same product from the same plant but for less than half the price.”
The Sun said Wal-Mart was able to put the squeeze on suppliers because of its gigantic size and added that is why many people do not want Asda to win control of Safeway - they fear the buying power will crush British suppliers.
Scott said if Asda won the battle for Safeway he hoped it would continue to buy 90% of produce from British farmers.
He added: “Our biggest suppliers are multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive — have you looked at their profits lately?”
Asked if he has a message for Safeway’s 85,000 employees who could soon be working for Asda, he said: “I’ve just visited one of their stores in Glasgow and to carry on doing what they are doing was very impressive, given how difficult it must be for them.
“But it’s fun at Asda. Our colleagues, from the greeters in the stores to the people on the deli counter, are just phenomenal. You can see they enjoy it from what they do. They are just fun.”
Scott told The Sun: “Our focus has always been on growing. Overtaking Tesco is not achievable in a short space of time — but, in business, you get what you deserve.”
Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons are awaiting the findings of the Competition Commission’s to see who will win the takeover battle for the UK’s fourth largest supermarket Safeway.
Scott insisted British shoppers would gain from an Asda takeover. He recalled what happened after Wal-Mart paid £6.9bn for Asda four years ago. “We were buying our Christmas tree lights from the same people as Asda.
“The only difference was that the manufacturer was selling them to a middle-man, who sold them to another middle-man, who sold them on to another middle-man, who sold them to Asda.
“We ended up buying the same product from the same plant but for less than half the price.”
The Sun said Wal-Mart was able to put the squeeze on suppliers because of its gigantic size and added that is why many people do not want Asda to win control of Safeway - they fear the buying power will crush British suppliers.
Scott said if Asda won the battle for Safeway he hoped it would continue to buy 90% of produce from British farmers.
He added: “Our biggest suppliers are multinationals like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive — have you looked at their profits lately?”
Asked if he has a message for Safeway’s 85,000 employees who could soon be working for Asda, he said: “I’ve just visited one of their stores in Glasgow and to carry on doing what they are doing was very impressive, given how difficult it must be for them.
“But it’s fun at Asda. Our colleagues, from the greeters in the stores to the people on the deli counter, are just phenomenal. You can see they enjoy it from what they do. They are just fun.”
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