Aldi boss shrugs off ‘phoney’ supermarket price war as it overtakes Asda
Aldi UK boss Giles Hurley has dismissed what he described as a “phoney” price war launched by rival Asda.
Aldi UK boss Giles Hurley has dismissed what he described as a “phoney” price war launched by rival Asda.
The supermarket chief executive told The Times that the discounter had seen little evidence of increased competition and aggressive new pricing from the sector.
Asda’s chairman Allan Leighton pledged to make the chain the UK’s cheapest supermarket at the start of the year, which led to Tesco and Sainsbury’s both warning of a potential hit to profits to defend its competitive position.
“I’d probably be pretty dismissive and describe it as a phoney war. We’re not seeing particularly aggressive moves from competition,” Hurley said.
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His comments comes as new Kantar data revealed that Aldi had overtaken Asda on food and drink sales in the last 12 weeks.
The German discounter saw its food and drink market share, excluding household revenues, hit 9.8% during the four weeks to 18 May, compared to Asda’s 9.4%.
“While I don’t benchmark or aim to have a certain place in the grocery market, it’s an interesting soundbite that we’re now the third biggest in sales,” Hurley told the publication.
“In terms of volume, we’ve actually been the third biggest for some time.“
Kantar’s monthly market update at the start of the week, covering overall grocery revenues, including household, show Aldi is also fast approaching Asda.
Aldi hit 11.1% of the market, rising from 10.8% the same time last year, while Asda’s share sunk from 13% to 12.1%.
Commenting on the results, Leighton said: “Market share is something that comes and isn’t something that worries me on a day to day basis at all.”
“We’re making real progress, but we got a long way to go. Market share will come when we do things right in a very, very consistent manner,” he said.
Asda reported its sales excluding fuel had fallen 5.9% to £5bn in the four months to 31 March. On a like-for-like basis, trading declined 3.1% – representing a 1.1% improvement compared to the final quarter of last year.
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