Asda owner Walmart has said the UK
supermarket's chief executive, Andy Clarke, is stepping down to be
replaced by the head of Walmart's Chinese business, Sean Clarke.
Walmart said Sean Clarke's experience would allow him to "reposition the business" in a competitive market.
Sean Clarke started his retail career at Asda in 2001 and has also worked for Walmart in Japan and Canada.
Asda has now reported seven straight quarters of declining sales.
The
appointment comes as a surprise after Andy Clarke said last week in an
interview that he would be succeeded by Roger Burnley, who is joining
Asda from Sainsbury's.
Mr Burnley has been named as Asda's deputy chief executive and chief operating officer.
David Cheesewright, president and chief executive of Walmart International, said Mr Burnley was "a top talent and a future CEO".
Competitive marketplace
Andy Clarke has served as Asda's chief executive for six years in an increasingly tough market.
Last
month, the retailer said like-for-like sales in the first quarter of
the year fell 5.7% in the face of "fierce competition".
Parent company Walmart will hope his successor can grab back some of their market share.
Mr Cheesewright said: "Sean is one of our most experienced global
executives, and through his leadership we will build upon the momentum
of Project Renewal to reposition Asda in a very competitive market
place."
Project Renewal is a programme designed to overhaul Asda's product range, modernise its 95 largest stores and reduce costs.
Asda
is attempting to recoup sales by narrowing the price gap with the
discounters and widen its price advantage over its three biggest rivals.
All
of the four major UK supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and
Morrisons - have been engaged in a long-running price war as part of an
attempt to slow gains in market share by discounters such as Aldi and
Lidl.
Last week, online retailer Amazon launched its fresh grocery service in the UK, adding to competition in the sector.
No comments:
Post a Comment