The UK supermarket’s total revenue is down by 0.2% year-on-year, but Asda reported that investment in lower prices has strengthened like-for-like sales during the quarter.

Asda has released its Q2 trading update for the period ending 30th June and reported that on a like-for-like basis, sales declined by 0.2%, which represents a 2.9% step on from Q1 and is the fourth consecutive quarter of improving like-for-like sales.

The supermarket’s total revenue for the quarter (excluding fuel) decreased by 0.2% on the year to £5.3 billion.

Asda reported that Asda Express has outperformed the convenience market to deliver 8.6% like-for-like growth during Q2 following the integration of 469 sites acquired from Co-op and EG Group.

Project Future, the supermarket’s IT transformation programme, has now been completed. Asda reported that it has separated more than 2,500 systems from former owner Walmart so that all stores, food depots and home office systems are operating on Asda-owned technology.

Lower prices

In a statement, Asda said that since launching at the end of January, its investment in Rollback to lower prices across its entire range means that more than 50% of all products have either been through or are going through the Rollback cycle before moving to a new, permanently low Asda Price.

“We saw a clear improvement in performance during Q2, with volumes and like-for-like sales strengthening, driven by better product availability and our material investment in price.”

Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton said: “We saw a clear improvement in performance during Q2, with volumes and like-for-like sales strengthening, driven by better product availability and our material investment in price. This widened the price gap over competitors and firmly re-established Asda as the best-value traditional supermarket.

“This week, we completed the rollout of Project Future, with all stores now operating on our new systems. The collective rate of completion did cause some temporary disruption with product availability and in our online experience, which will impact our sales outturn in the current quarter.

“As planned, we expect to exit the year in like-for-like growth as we continue our investment in price to protect our customers from inflationary pressures. As we’ve said from the outset, transforming Asda will take time, but we remain confident in the direction of travel and the long-term potential of the business.”

In August, Asda announced a £12 million investment to transform seven stores across Yorkshire and surrounding areas. Each location will receive full shop-floor refurbishments.