Asda axing 100s of head office jobs amidst ‘structural change’ within the grocery market

Supermarket giant Asda is set to axe 100s of head office jobs amidst structural change within the grocery industry. The grocer, which has already cut 1,360 jobs back in 2014, says it needs to “further change the way we do business” in light of discounters such as Aldi and Lidl and the changing customer. Asda has been the worst-performing member of the big 4 for a few months, as its sales dipped 3.5% and its market share to 16.2%. The grocer’s like-for-like sales slumped 4.5% during its third quarter, but boss Andy Clarke insisted the Walmart-owned business had the “financial strength and clear plan” to recover, although he admitted that would be a “slow and costly process”. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons all posted consensus-busting like-for-like sales last week, piling more pressure on Asda. The grocer will report its latest quarterly trading update next month.

It is not yet known the exact amount of roles to be lost or in which departments, as they are having internal discussions with head office colleagues to discuss “what this means for them” before they go public. 

Owner Walmart is also axing 450 jobs and shutting 269 stores globally