Asda braced for nightmare before Christmas as it switches IT system at busiest time of year
ASDA is braced for a nightmare before Christmas as the struggling supermarket switches its IT system at the busiest time of the year.
The chain is racing to ditch the tech used by former owner Walmart in a bid to avoid paying to keep using it.
But it risks disaster if the new IT — which covers shelf prices, stock, tills and scanners — goes wrong at its most lucrative period.
Kantar figures yesterday revealed Asda’s steep sales slump continued, with a fall of 5.6 per cent over the past 12 weeks.
Tesco and Sainsbury’s grew their sales by the same amount.
Ocado is now the fastest- growing grocer, with sales up 12.9 per cent, while Lidl‘s rose 9.1 per cent.
Industry sources now caution Asda’s sales slump will get even worse as it makes the “foolhardy” decision to do an IT overhaul in the “Golden Quarter”.
One source said Asda is hellbent on the switch in order to meet the three-year deadline with Walmart.
Catherine Shuttleworth, consultant at Savvy, said: “It’s a very high-risk strategy.
Most supermarket retailers would never tamper with their systems in the run-up to Christmas. Asda needs all the sales it can get and if the customer experience is affected, then shoppers will walk.”
Asda said it has already moved its warehouse systems and transferred its George fashion range to new IT with few problems.
But its payroll switch-over led to some employees being paid incorrectly. The supermarket said it has since fixed the glitch.
Kien Tan, a retail adviser at PwC, reasoned at least Asda had trialled its IT switchover on all other areas before tackling food.
But sources said the dilemma only heightened the need for Asda to hire a permanent chief executive after a vacuum of food retail knowledge at the top.
The supermarket chain was bought for £6.8billion by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital in 2021.
Asda chairman Lord Stuart Rose said last month he was “embarrassed” by Asda’s decline and urged Mohsin to step back from its day-to-day running.
Asda has insisted that its search for a new chief executive is progressing.
Apple’s £11bn hit
APPLE has been ordered to pay £11billion in back taxes to Ireland after losing its long-running legal battle with Brussels.
To cover the bill, the tech giant would have to sell 13.7million of its latest £799 iPhone 16 devices, which were released on Monday night.
The case dates back to 2016 when the European Commission claimed that Apple — which is valued at £2.5trillion — received “illegal” tax breaks from Ireland which had given it an unfair competitive advantage.
Apple has had its European headquarters in Cork since 1980 but was found to have paid a tax rate of 0.005 per cent.
Surprisingly, Ireland’s government said it does not want to collect Apple’s money but will be bound by Brussels to do so.
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook had previously called the move to claim back taxes “total political crap”.
Apple successfully challenged the European Commission before that verdict was overturned last year. But the European Court of Justice has now ordered the payout.
Google told to pay £2bn EU fines
GOOGLE has been told it must pay a £2billion European fine for abusing its dominance to crush rival shopping services.
The firm’s owner Alphabet is coming under fire from regulators around the world regarding its monopoly and had fought to avoid the fine brought by the European Commission in 2017.
The European Court of Justice yesterday dismissed its appeal. It agreed Google had used its search engine dominance to prioritise its own shopping service.
Google has now been fined by the EU over shopping services, its Android software and for blocking ads for rival search engines.
Tax blast by North Sea boss
THE boss of Serica Energy has warned Labour’s planned increase in windfall taxes on North Sea producers to 78 per cent of profits will make “future investment uneconomic”.
Chief exec Chris Cox said that while it had spent over £1billion in the UK supply chain over the past five years, similar expenditure would be lost if there is a “punitive” tax regime.
He warned further certainty was needed after the Government dropped its resistance to a legal case by eco campaigners that could see North Sea producers have to consider car petrol fumes as part of their own carbon emissions.
Crypto ant man charged
THE Financial Conduct Authority has for the first time brought charges against a person in the UK for operating a network of illegal crypto ATMs.
Crypto ATMs are machines where you can use your bank card to withdraw digital currency, such as Bitcoin.
They are legal in the US, but are not allowed in the UK.
Olumide Osunkoya, 45, has been charged for processing £2.6million worth of crypto transactions between 2021 and 2023.
The watchdog said: “If you are using a crypto ATM, you are handing your money directly to criminals.”
Mag sale, Neil’s out
THE spectator has been bought by GB News-backer Sir Paul Marshall — prompting the resignation of its chairman, broadcaster Andrew Neil.
Hedge fund boss Sir Paul has paid £100million for the weekly political mag. It made profits of £4.8million in 2023.
The Spectator, along with The Telegraph, had been up for sale after a proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by the Government earlier this year.