Asda's George fashion label outperforms online

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 18, 2018

The Sainsbury’s-Asda mega-merger is edging closer to a full competition commission enquiry so nothing is certain until it’s approved. But for now, at least, it seems that Asda’s performance overall is improving and its clothing ops are too.

As part of (current) parent Wal-mart’s results announcement on Thursday, the company said that its fashion line George saw 21.9% growth in online sales in Q1. It didn’t give a figure for physical store sales.

That came as the UK supermarket chain saw overall sales in the three months to March 31 rising 3.4% while comparable sales were up 1% after Easter adjustments.

CEO Roger Burnley said the company is seeing “genuine momentum with four consecutive quarters of growth.” And he added that during Q1, it has invested in lower prices with “innovation in our own brand and further improving [the] shopping experience whether in-store or online.”

That’s clearly had a beneficial effect on George, which remains one of the biggest fashion labels in the UK.

Burnley also said the company saw almost a quarter of a million new customers during the first quarter and that he is excited by the “opportunity that our proposed merger with Sainsbury’s offers to accelerate our successful strategy and go further, faster.”