Asda, Wal-Mart’s successful grocery chain in the United Kingdom, announced Monday (Oct. 19) plans to reallocate more resources to the core business to try and reverse what has been a yearlong sales slump amid the constant competition from Aldi and Lidl, offering lower costs.
The retailer is also eliminating 29 jobs as its closes its business-to-business sales division and it put the expansion of click and collect sites on hold for now, Asda confirmed in an email statement on Monday (Oct. 19).
In this new agenda, dubbed Project Renewal, Walmart Asda said it will cut prices further over the next 18 months and accelerate plans to refurbish 95 larger stores.
This news from Asda’s comes on the heels of Wal-Mart’s disclosure to Wall Street that earnings next year are expected to fall between 6% and 12% for the overall company.
Also this month Walmart U.S. announced plans to cut 2% of its corporate workforce in Bentonville, which impacted 450 jobs, not including retirement buyouts. Insiders close to Walmart believe more personnel cuts are coming within the next month through the first of the year.