Asda Stores

Procurement policy
Asda uses an approved list of partners for its main contracting and design work. In terms of contracting, the main suppliers are HBG Construction, Laing, Carillion and Pearce Retail, which have worked with the company for more than five years.

For all projects, the partners have pre-agreed overhead costs, profit margins and preliminary packages. Most new work is carried out with these partners, although a few stores are purchased where the site developer has built the outlet.

Subcontracted work is currently competitively tendered, although Asda is moving to partnering arrangements for this work. By using its partnering procurement process, Asda has reduced costs by almost 30% in cash terms, and construction times by 50%.

Current and future projects
Over the past six years Asda has opened more than 70 new stores, renewed more than 100, and extended about 90. Over the next three years it plans to renew between 30 and 40 stores, build 10-12 new stores, and extend 15 a year. These figures include both conventional and Supercentre stores. The plans will require an investment of about £450m each year. As part of this capital programme, the company expects to spend about £100,000 per new store on landscaping.

In and around London, Asda's presence will expand with the creation of Asda's smallest London store, two new Supercentres, and a major store regeneration programme. In late 2002, Asda announced that it had opened six stores in November. The cost of the stores totalled close to £95m, and the total area was 17,200 m². The largest store, at 4000 m² and a cost of £20m, was at Bishops Auckland.

Essential information
Asda was acquired by Wal-Mart in July 1999. Since then, it has extended its range of store formats at the larger and smaller ends of the scale.

The first Asda Wal-Mart Supercentre opened in 2000 in Bristol, followed in the same year by launches in Havant and Minworth. The original goal was to have 10 Supercentres open by 2006, although this now looks conservative, with a greater number likely. One of the group's largest Supercentres, Eastlands in Manchester, opened in mid-2002. The group's aim is to provide as large a range of food and non-food products as possible.