Lack of experienced leadership is at the heart of Asda’s struggles

I had an early start on Wednesday to be on Wake up To Money. Alarm at 5.20am, on air after 5.30am followed by the Today programme at 6.20am and then Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland. It was all to discuss one thing: Asda, and what has gone wrong?

Don’t forget that Asda have been losing share for over 10 years, and not just the past four. The supermarket has had three CEOs in the past 14 years, and only one, Sean Clarke, maintained market share. Under the other two Asda lost share.

Asda have not had a CEO since Roger Burnley left three years ago. Roger has a lifetime of experience of multiple retailers. Since then Mohsin Issa has been at the helm – an experienced retailer, maybe, but with no experience of running a behemoth like Asda.

Running a multiple retailer will be like running an aircraft carrier: complicated, with lots of moving parts, people and processes. Running a petrol forecourt business, on the other hand, will be like running a speedboat: easier to manoeuvre, and with fewer moving parts. Just because you can drive a speedboat, it doesn’t mean you have the skills to drive an aircraft carrier.

In the past two years Asda has rebranded Smart Price into Just Essentials (May 2022), launched its own loyalty card called Asda Rewards (August 2022), bought 132 Co-op forecourt sites (August 2023), bought 356 EG UK stores (August 2023) and relaunched Extra Special as Exceptional (now).

Add in Project Future – billed by Asda as Europe’s largest IT transformation project (with an £800m spend) – and you have a lot of reasons to take your eye off the ball. Tesco and JS have done none of the above – they have had the same, experienced, CEOs and have a clear vision of what they are doing and where they are going. Asda have forgotten that retailing is about the basics of stores, price and availability.

I was in an Asda yesterday and availability in chilled, produce and frozen was appalling. One of the chilled Special Offer cabinets was as bad as I have ever seen. It was a dumping ground with shelves that clearly needed a clean. The level of fill in Frozen was at an absolute minimum, which not only looks bad but is also very inefficient for the freezers! Frozen promotional ends were half empty.

Asda have been busy recruiting big hitters for every possible senior role, some just starting, and others not until next year. A new CEO will be six months away at least, and even Stuart Rose has said there won’t be one until next year. This leaves a vacuum in key leadership roles at a time when their competitors have their foot on the accelerator.

Asda can be fixed. It has been done before and it was amazing being part of it. Being part of a business when it goes from being broken to being fixed is a huge learning opportunity and it requires a mindset that is focused and positive. Fixing the basics will be a start but I don’t think the £30m Asda have put aside for more store hours will be anything like enough. It’s not just hours, it is the stores themselves.

It is a long road ahead but I am willing Asda to be better than it is. The market needs another strong retailer.