New Asda CEO David Potts has told staff the supermarket will “win or lose” based on its ability to turn around its patchwork store standards.
The former Morrisons CEO, whose appointment was announced yesterday, spoke to Asda employees at its headquarters in Leeds, within hours of being named as the new man at the helm on Tuesday, after a five year search for a new boss.
It’s understood he revealed he had carried out his own secret shopper tour, by visiting a raft of Asda stores to see for himself the scale of the work that needs to be done.
Potts, who has promised to introduce “week by week” improvements to the Asda shopping experience, revealed he has been visiting stores “incognito” in previous weeks, having been approached to take on the challenge of Asda’s turnround, started by chairman Allan Leighton.
Whilst Potts praised Asda’s staff and expressed his admiration for the Asda heritage, he stressed that without a comprehensive offer of better availability and shopping experience, Asda would not achieve its hoped-for resurgence.
As Asda spokesman told The Grocer “David’s arrival has been warmly welcomed by staff across the business. His focus is on improving the shopping experience for customer every week and that applies across every level of the business.
“His clear message is we need to focus on those improvements every week and with Christmas nearly upon us that is what he will be focused on. He’s getting out to stores and depots and in the weeks and months to come will be continue to do so.”
Ged Futter, founder of The Retail Mind and a former senior Asda buyer, said Pott’s comments had hit at one of the the root causes of Asda’s problems, and were a positive sign that the former Tesco and Morrisons veteran could move the dial of Asda’s stores where Leighton had achieved only patchy results.
“For all his skills Leighton is a marketeer, he is not someone who’s been brought through the system and understands the absolute nuts and bolts of stores like Potts does,” Futter said.
“Potts knows what makes stores work, what makes them not work and how to uncomplicate things.
“Having somebody who is astute operationally is absolutely what they want. They want someone who understands how to get this done without the jazz hands.”
A supplier source described Potts as a “a real stores expert” who was a “single minded champion of the shopper”.
Josh Holmes, head of research at Retail Economics, said: “Improving store standards, availability and the overall shopping experience will be key to winning customers back.
“Price will always matter to Asda, but there’s only so much that further price cuts can achieve if shoppers aren’t consistently getting the experience they expect.”
Potts himself described Asda’s staff as “remarkable” and said they were “some of the most passionate I’ve met”.
But he promised to make improvements to the shopping trip “every week” and “revitalise“ the business.
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