Supermarket chain Asda has highlighted the popularity of its own-brand goods during the during the cost-of-living crisis as it posted a 9.6% increase in sales.
The increase in like-for-like sales in the three months to the end of June saw revenues, excluding fuel, rise to £5.4bn. Asda said it was still suffering from increases in its costs, but that it would pass through savings to customers “wherever we can”.
In a third quarter update, the Leeds-based chain said that sales of the company’s own-brand products jumped by 14.7%. The company’s Just Essentials was launched last year and has captured a fifth of the market in that time.
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Co-owner Mohsin Issa said: “We know that thousands of families continue to struggle with the cost of living, and we’re committed to doing all we can to support them. This quarter, we have locked the price of over 500 everyday items to help families keep a handle on their budgets, as well as reducing the price of over 200 own –label items by an average of 9% - including fresh fruit, vegetables, cupboard staples and ready meals.
“It’s this constant focus on keeping our prices low that has seen us win the Grocer 33 pricing award for the 26th consecutive year. In addition to investing in value on the shelf, we’re also the only major retailer to give money back to customers every time they shop through our Asda Rewards loyalty app. More than 5m customers regularly use the app and have earned over £200m since launch to spend in store or online.
“We have also extended our hugely popular kids eat for £1 cafes offer until the end of the year. I am incredibly proud that we have been able to serve over two million meals to kids since we launched the initiative last June, investing £1.3m to date to keep the prices pegged at £1.”
Asda said it had delivered an average of around 800,000 orders per week from its online supermarket, making it the second-largest online operator in the Ƶ. The company’s clothing business grew like-for-like sales by 2.8%, and the general merchandise business, which includes homeware products, grew by 6.3%.
