Asda’s online grocery sales doubled in the second quarter and the Leeds-based retailer now plans to increase its online sales capacity by another 50% by next year.
Announcing its Q2 results, parent company Walmart said Asda’s sales grew 3.8% year-on-year excluding fuel between 1st April and 30th June.
The highlight was record online grocery sales, with online capacity growing by 65% since March, to 700,000 weekly slots. There was also a quadrupling of click-and-collect sales.
Asda said it planned to increase online capacity to 740,000 slots per week by the end of the year – and had set its sights on increasing capacity to one million slots in 2021.
As part of the drive, the UK’s third largest supermarket revealed it was expanding its delivery partnership trial with Uber Eats to 25 more stores over the next eight weeks and reinstating its same day and express click and collect service at more than 300 stores.
The service was paused at the height of the pandemic to reduce pressure on stores.
“The pandemic has created a structural shift in customer behaviours towards grocery shopping,” said Asda CEO and president Roger Burnley.
“We have accelerated our online capacity expansion to meet levels we had anticipated reaching in eight years within a matter of weeks and we will continue to expand this offer.
“We will also maintain focus on ensuring our in-store experience delivers what customers want from a shopping trip – great value, relevant range and ease.”
Walmart has restarted talks with a number of third-party investors as it looks to sell the supermarket giant, with Covid having temporarily put the process on hold.
