Asda's cost‐cutting pays dividend: An exercise in racking, caging and scheduled delivery

Asda's impressive progress over the past few years has now brought them to the stage where they are achieving—from a relatively few 46 stores—4.3% of total grocery turnover, taking fifth place (excluding the co‐ops) in terms of relative market share. Faced like everybody else with inflationary pressures, they mounted a programme of comprehensive cost‐cutting and labour‐saving, looking particularly at caging, the use of racking in warehouse space, and the advantage of scheduled deliveries in both food and non‐food. This feature, based on an RDM interview with Asda's managing director, Peter Firmston‐Williams, charts their progress to date.