Against a backdrop of soaring inflation in Britain's food retail sector, supermarket group Asda said on Monday it would invest more than £73 million (€86.7 million) to keep the prices of essential items low this year.
Asda, owned since February last year by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity company TDR Capital, said it has cut the prices of over 100 items and 'locked in' those prices until the end of 2022.
'Exceptionally Tough Times'
“We know that household budgets are being squeezed by an increasing cost of living and we are committed to doing everything we can to support our customers, colleagues and communities in these exceptionally tough times," Mohsin Issa said in a statement.
“We’re standing side by side with the families and communities who are juggling so many demands at the moment. We’re taking unprecedented action to give families some additional stability and certainty in their weekly shopping by lowering and locking over 100 prices until the end of the year."
Increase Pay For Workers
Britain's third largest supermarket after Tesco and Sainsbury's also said that from July it will increase the pay of its shop floor workers to £10.10 (€12.00) an hour plus a bonus opportunity.
According to the retailer, this will give workers an additional £0.60 on top of the National Living Wage, which will be supported by a 10% colleague discount in stores and online and additional supplement for colleagues in London stores.
"We’re also proud to be investing in increasing the pay for our hardworking store colleagues and continuing to support the communities we are part of," Issa added.
Last week, the Issa brothers' EG Group committed to creating an additional 32,000 jobs over the next five years, including 27,000 jobs in the United Kingdon.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM – your source for the latest retail news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
