Asda Extends Home Shopping Availability

Asda is extending its home shopping to a further 21 stores, taking its coverage to 40 per cent of the UK. This expansion follows a successful first half to 2004 in which the Wal-Mart owned supermarket chain saw like-for-like sales growth in the high single digits. This month marks the fifth anniversary of Wal-Mart's acquisition of Asda, in which time the chain has expanded its market share from 8.2 per cent to 11 per cent.

Wal-Mart does not give specific sales figures for its international businesses, but said growth in the six months to July 31 was driven by both increased customer traffic and higher spend per customer. General merchandise and clothing sales grew in the high single digits.

So far this year, Asda has opened one new Supercenter, a superstore, two new George standalone stores and five expanded superstores. There will be 22 store expansions, and three George stores. The home shopping expansion represents an investment of just over GBP3m, and has created 630 new roles so far for the business.