Asda is reportedly keen to position itself as the “EasyJet of retail”, while trying to disassociate itself with its downmarket image and attract more top-end shoppers.
Chief executive Andy Bond claims that in the last two years, Asda’s appeal has widened with the addition of 5.2 per cent more shoppers from the A and B socio-economic groups, according to a report on talkingretail.com.
“Despite the prejudices some people have, we are representative of the UK nationally,” said Bond. “The image is that we're a little bit downmarket. We're absolutely not, but we recognise the need to address that. We have a significant number of ABs now.
“It's slightly quirky that in the context of retailers, you have to be high price to be high quality. Yet everyone likes to fly on EasyJet. We're trying to position ourselves as the EasyJet of retail.”
The new customers have been directly targeted by moves such as the extension, by more than 1,000 products, of Asda’s organic range, in the last year. Bond has also signaled the chain’s intention to infiltrate the online market, unveiling plans to increase the coverage of Asda's home delivery grocery service from the current 60-65 per cent to the whole of the UK by the end of next year.
“The winners in the future will be companies that can combine online with bricks and mortar retailing, because customers don't want to have to be at home to collect their items,” said Bond.
