ASDA History and information

ASDA

A chain of supermarkets in the UK offering food, clothing and general merchandise products. It became a subsidiary of Wal-Mart in 1999, and is the second largest chain in the UK after Tesco. As a wholly owned division of Wal-Mart, ASDA isn't required to declare quarterly or half yearly earnings. It submits full accounts to Companies House each October. Tesco has 31.1 per cent of the UK grocery market while ASDA's share is 16.4 per cent.

ASDA launched an online retailer in 1998, but from the start had over estimated demand. It started off from a dedicated depot facility based in Croydon but was closed with a number of redundancies shortly after as sales were not as expected. It continued the online retailer service but copied the Tesco store based model instead.

http://www.asda.co.uk

Wal-Mart's corporate stance is anti union, which is refelcted in the stance of Asda. In 2006 A planned five-day strike by Asda warehouse staff was been called off, unions have confirmed. The action had been due to begin on June 30 after thousands of workers voted for industrial action in a dispute over pay and bargaining rights. The decision followed prolonged negotiations between unions and the supermarket chain at the TUC. Asda was about to seek an injunction to block the action, claiming "irregularities" in the strike ballot. In 2006 Supermarket giant Asda said they were to offer staff up to two weeks unpaid leave to "go on a German jolly" during the 2006 World Cup tournament. Its 150,000 workers were to be able to take one or two weeks off in the month starting on 9 June. Requests dealt with on a first come, first served basis depending on staffing needs at individual outlets.

The first Act of The ASDA Story was set in the old Queen's Theatre, Castleford, West Yorkshire in the early 60s. Its roots can be traced to two branches in twenties.

The Asquith family had a family business, a butcher's shop in Knottingley, W. Yorkshire. The business was eventually expanded to seven butcher shops. The two sons of W.R. Asquith, Peter and Fred were actively involved in the family business and were later to become co founders of ASDA.

At the same period, in the 20s, a group of West Riding dairy farmers joined forces, as Hindell’s Dairy Farmers Ltd. These included the Stockdale family (A. Stockdale), and a subsidiary company, Craven Dairies Ltd, was formed.

Through a process of acquisition and diversification, a new public company was formed in 1949 Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd. with Arthur Stockdale as Managing Director. During the 50s and early 60s Associated Dairies expanded the number of pork butchery shops and also created the fascia Craven Dairies for its cake shops and cafés. The son of Arthur Stockdale, Noel, met and struck up an immediate rapport with the Asquith brothers and so became the other co-founder of the future ASDA.

ASDA was founded in 1965 by farmers from Yorkshire. The name is a contraction of Associated Dairies. For a short time in the 80s Asda Stores Ltd was a subsidiary of ASDA-MFI plc follwing a merger between the companies. Other companies in the group were Associated Dairies Ltd, the furnture retailer MFI and Allied Carpets. After the sale of MFI and Allied the company name changed to ASDA Group plc. The dairy division was sold to Northern Foods plc.

The company went through a troubled period in the early 90s, but was revived under the leadership of Archie Norman, who became a shadow cabinet Conservative MP. He was chairman of the company in 96–99. ASDA, which then owned 229 stores, was purchased by Wal-Mart of the USA, on July 26, 1999.

Following the takeover by Wal-Mart, several Asda–Wal Mart Supercentres have opened, creating some of the largest hypermarkets in the UK. The first of these stores opened at Patchway, near Bristol, in August 2000. At first, it was criticised for its scale and condemned as an eye sore, but the format has now become extremely popular. In November 2004 a refurbishment of the hypermarket was completed, addressing some of the complaints.

In March 2006, ASDA launched a format called ASDA Essentials in a former Co-op store in Northampton. With a focus on own brand products on a much smaller floorplate than ASDA's mainstream stores, the Essentials will only stock branded products are perceived to be at the core of a family's weekly shop. This is seen as ASDA's response to the increasing strength of Tesco and Sainsbury in the convenience store sector. If the trial is a success, it will be rolled out nationally.

ASDA is expanding its range of services to include Financial Services sold in store and online. Products currently sold are Child Trust Funds and Credit Cards, Car Insurance Home Insurance, Travel Insurance, Life Insurance, Mortgage Life Insurance, Over 50s Life Cover, Pet Insurance. http://www.asdafinance.com
In 2006 Supermarket chain Asda took Brazilian beef off its shelves after claims it could have come from areas where foot-and-mouth disease is rife.

In 2006 Supermarket group Asda started selling property through stores. Shoppers were to be able to browse properties for sale via an in store computer terminal. People choosing to sell their homes through Asda will pay lower than average estate agency fees and receive a free Home Information Pack (HIP). The system will be trialled in 10 Asda stores in the Sunderland area during the summer but is planned to be rolled out across the UK by the end of the year.

Asda has sponsor techniques the name has been put on the WRU Asda Leagues: the lower leagues of the rugby system.

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