ASDA CEO Andy Clarke reveals 19% increase in online sales over fourth quarter of 2012
ASDA CEO Andy Clarke has revealed that the supermarket giant’s growing e-commerce platform saw an increase in sales by 18.8 per cent over the fourth quarter, as its parent company Walmart announced an international net sales growth of 7.4 percent to $135.2 billion.
Discussing Asda’s fourth quarter, which ended 5 January 2013 and included the pre and post-Christmas shopping period, Clarke singled out the company’s multichannel offering, including that of George and general merchandise, claiming that it was “performing well”.
“We have seen online clothing sales growing faster than the market, with our biggest online Christmas ever,” he said, before sounding a warning against complacency for a “challenging” year ahead.
“E-commerce continues to grow in the UK and our customers are using online and mobile for more of their purchases. This was our strongest online Christmas season, backed with excellent merchandise availability and service levels. As part of our investment in global eCommerce, we invested more in the UK, offering more convenient ways to shop through mobile apps and the expansion of Click and Collect for both grocery and general merchandise. More than half of our online general merchandise customer base now regularly shop Asda this way. “
He added that total online sales increased by 18.8 per cent for the fourth quarter on the same period in 2011, and that Asda planned to expand its delivery capability for George.com across Europe to 24 countries by the end of the third quarter this year.