Retail giant ASDA today said sales jumped ahead in the last quarter as it increased customer numbers at its stores.
Comparable store sales in the three months to 31 October were in the “high single digits” compared with the same period last year, although the group did not provide actual figures.
ASDA said the performance was driven by increases in both customer numbers and average spend per person.
The retailer’s George clothing line saw sales rise nearly 30% on a like-for-like basis while food sales were in the “high single digits”.
ASDA also said today it was accelerating the roll-out of its in-store jewellery departments ahead of Christmas.
Jewellery departments open today in Cwmbran in Gwent, Dudley in the West Midlands and Stafford in Staffordshire.
Additional departments will open on 27 November at Carcroft in Yorkshire, Isle of Dogs in London, Newport in Gwent, Leigh in Manchester and Wrexham in Clwyd, bringing the number to 107 in total.
The sales update coincided with the announcement by ASDA’s US owner, Wal-Mart, that sales for the quarter rose 11.5% to $58.79bn (£37.20bn) in the quarter. Pretax profits rose to $2.87bn (£1.82bn), from $2.39bn (£1.51bn) the same period last time.
Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s president and chief executive, said: “In a challenging economic environment and with slowing comparable store sales growth, we achieved another quarter of record sales and earnings.
“Going into the important holiday selling season, we feel confident we are well positioned for a successful and record fourth quarter.”
ASDA has 256 stores in the UK, where it employs 126,000 staff. Wal-Mart employs around 1.3m people in total, of which more than 1m are in the US.
EGi News 13/11/02
