Thorough SWOT Analysis of Asda – A Lifestyle And Retailer Supermarket Bases In The UK

Quick Stats on Asda

Founder	Peter & Fred Asquith, Sir Noel Stockdale
Year Founded	1949
Origin	Wakefield, England, UK
No. of Employees	165,000+
Company Type	Retail
Market Cap	N/A
Annual Revenue	£ 22.89 Billion (2019)
Net Income/ Profit	£ 584.2 Million (2019)

 

(Delivery Facility Through Asda E-commerce, Source: Charged Retail)

Products & Servies by Asda

• Grocery
• General Merchandise
• Financial Services
• Home Delivery

Competitors of Asda

• Morrisons
• Spinneys
• Waitrose & Partners
• Tesco PLC
• Pick n Pay

Now that we understand the company’s key business, let’s look after the SWOT Analysis of Asda.

SWOT Analysis of Asda

SWOT Analysis of Asda is a basic method that can help a company examine what it does best right now and develop a successful future strategy. It exposes the areas where people are holding back or how competitors may profit.

With the growing neck-and-neck rivalry in membership warehouses, it is critical for organizations like Asda to examine the business environment.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Asda, refer to the infographic below:

Now first let’s begin with the strengths of the company from the SWOT analysis of Asda.

Strengths of Asda

Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of Asda:

• Wide Range of Products: Asda has a wide range of product offerings and has expanded very well around the UK. It also includes financial service offerings. It is known for amazing marketing strategies showing customer delight and services. 
• Strong Presence in the Market: Asda’s presence in various regions makes its organisation’s marketing strategy beneficial, with regards to its target audience as well. They are a very strong dealer company, not only to promote their products, as well as their training and team managing system. 
• Broad Distribution Network: Asda has about 25 distribution centres across the UK. These are stored chilled products like food, clothing and ambient products like soft drinks and cereals. Asda also has a ToYou Parcel Service. 

(Asda Social Media Presence)

• Social Media & Online Presence: Asda maintains healthy contacts with their customers on social media sites as well they ask for frequent feedback from them. They have plenty of brand acquisitions.

Bonus Tip: Developing engagement marketing using social media & online reputation management is one of the biggest reasons Asda is climbing the stairs to success. Without maintaining healthy relations with customers a business can never become a brand. So, it is important to learn these powerful digital marketing skills if you want your business to achieve global success in your industry.    

• Awards & Recognitions: Asda has received various awards for its excellent services. One of the noted achievements is the Innovative Employer of the Year during the year 2009 at the Oracle Retail Week Awards.

Weaknesses of Asda

Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement.   Some of the key weaknesses of Asda are:

• Weak Merchandise: As far as Asda has their strengths, they have their weaknesses too. Some critics argue that Asda merchandise isn’t as desirable as the ones of Waitrose and different comparable manufacturers e.g. Sainsbury’s. 
• Expensive for Some Customers: Likewise, it isn’t as inexpensive as discounters which include Aldi and Lidl. This is now no longer convincing for lots of customers. 
• Increasing Debt: It is likewise stated that Asda has approximately £3.5 billion well worth of debt. This is a vast quantity that influences the economic balance of the company.
• R&D on Innovation & Technology: Even though Asda is working on their Research and Development, they still have not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry. Asda also needs to invest in new technologies in terms of innovation. The decision making in Asda takes too much time and money, also in introducing new products to the audiences.
• Controversies & Critics: During the 12 months of 2007, Asda, at the side of some different retailers, admitted pricing fixes at the dairy merchandise. They have fallen into many controversies and critics. For instance for his or her faux advertising in addition to their reputation.

Opportunities for Asda

Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:

• Increase Online Presence: More and more customers are shopping online and as the focus is pinned towards it, hence a great opportunity for expansion of domain. Therefore, the online presence is spreading wide into other countries like India, China, and many more. This will help the brand get sufficient views.
• Working on Employees Satisfaction: The business organisations have also worked on their potential segments creating a better and safer place for their employees, staff members and also their long-term customers.
• Economical Shift: There’s an economic uplift and customer prevalence within the company. More and more audiences have shifted their preferences to Asda’s servicing. Asda also converted their 5 to 6 focus DIY stores into convenient supermarkets.
• E-commerce: Utilizing the benefit of online presence is a great opportunity for Asda. their official site and other social media have benefited them and they are a step ahead of being popular!
• Global Expansion: Going beyond the UK for opportunities is worth the effort! Although Asda’s attempt to merge with Sainsbury was blocked by the CMA (The Competition and Markets Authority), it is ready for other experiences too. 

Threats to Asda

Threats are those factors in the environment that can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:

• Race With Competitors: Asda faces a lot of competitors around the UK. Tesco is the market leader, whereas Sainsbury is Asda’s closest rival. Other competitors in the race are Morrisons, Waitrose, Aldi, Asda, and Co-op.
• Rules & Regulations: The legal standards and new set of rules have created a major setback for Asda, change in regulatory frameworks and introducing regulations to the organisations may have been a drawback for the company. Liability laws in different states must have created a threat to the product services of Asda as per some policies of the countries. 
• Currency Fluctuations: Asda also has access to other countries which also gives rise to currency fluctuations, following markets across the world. Cultural diversity because of globalization contributes to the company’s lack of cultural intelligence.
• Breaking Laws: It is also worth noting that the growth of independent online retailers is a threat. Similarly, lawsuits can be problematic for Asda. It was known many times in the past by various authorities for breaking certain rules.

This ends our thorough SWOT analysis of Asda. Let us conclude our learning below.