After announcing earlier this month it would slash around 200 jobs, Leeds, U.K.-based grocery chain Asda announced it is also cutting around 6,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) over the next year.
The operator of 580 supermarkets, nearly 500 convenience stores, and around 770 gas stations across the U.K., Asda recently reported that its like-for-like sales – excluding fuel – declined 3.4 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2024, while total revenue declined by 0.8 percent to GBP 21.7 billion (USD 28 billion, EUR 26 billion).
Asda Executive Chairman Allan Leighton warned that those issues could continue into its 2025 fiscal year.
“Looking ahead, we still have plenty of work to get our business firing on all cylinders again. While regaining customers’ trust will take time, we will undertake a substantive and well-backed program of investment in price, availability, and the shopping experience to deliver this,” he said. “This will materially reduce our profitability this year, which we expect to reverse as our market share recovers and improves over time.”
As part of that scaleback, Asda will slash around 6,000 SKUs via a category-by-category review that will be led by CCO Kris Comerford. Asda has already begun to reduce its range by nearly 20 percent, he told The Grocer.
“The challenge I’ve given Kris is to get that adjustment made in the next 12 months, and we’ve already started that as we go through the range reviews and the range and price architecture by category,” Leighton said.
Despite the number of products that are being cut, suppliers that remain partners with Asda should not suffer a dip in sales by volume, according to Leighton.
“The idea is not to sell less; the idea is to sell more per SKU. This is all about how do you get the right range, the right architecture? It’s all pretty basic stuff, but it’s there to grow the business. It’s good for suppliers because they will get more volume,” he told The Grocer.
In the U.S., Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.-based grocery chain Kroger reportedly cut additional employees after announcing around 200 job cuts in February.
The firm said the latest round of job cuts included positions at its consumer insights and retail data science subsidiary 84.51.
“As part of this prioritization work and improved efficiencies, we restructured a few teams and eliminated a small number of roles," Kroger said.
