You’re better off with Stuart Rose… or so Asda hopes

Stuart Rose recently bemoaned the “worklessness” that has seen thousands more people become economically inactive since the pandemic, but no-one could accuse him of being workshy. The 75-year-old chairman of Asda is taking on an executive role at the struggling supermarket chain.
The former chief executive and executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, who was knighted in 2008 for his services to the retail industry, may have the perfect pedigree, but he has his work cut out at Asda. He is more than aware of this, having recently called its performance “embarrassing”.
Asda has struggled since the billionaire Issa brothers and TDR, the private equity firm, bought the business from Walmart for £6.8 billion in 2021. The highly leveraged deal lumbered the Leeds-based grocer with big loans just before interest rates rocketed and left it unable to compete against rivals.
After three years as chairman, the ongoing fallout will be plain to Rose. They include rising prices, declining standards, increased competition and operational missteps. Market share has tumbled.
Luckily, Rose has a dynamic right-hand man by his side in the form of Rob Hattrell. Currently a partner at TDR, now Asda’s majority owner, the former eBay and Tesco executive has a deep understanding of consumers. Rose must be hoping it will be as successful a working partnership as the one he enjoyed with Charles Wilson, the retail executive who helped him turn around Arcadia and M&S.
In the near term, Rose and his team will invest more in core grocery lines and staffing; there will be a focus on loyalty rewards. Longer term it is about having the “best” technology platform to use data and improve customer service.
In theory, private equity ownership could help hone the strategy and streamline decision-making. But the buyout deal has been no small factor in Asda’s current troubles.
Reflecting on its recent performance during a talk at The FT Live Future of Retail conference on Tuesday, Judith McKenna, the former Walmart International boss, said one of the initial strengths that the Issa brothers brought over other potential Asda buyers was an “entrepreneurship” but “through circumstances — economy, distraction, whatever that has been — it’s clearly not where it needs to be”.
Ten years ago the corporate slogan was “You’re better off at Asda”. But returning the 1,200-store chain to its former glory will be a tough job. More deleveraging of the balance sheet, which had £3.8 billion of net debt at the end of the first quarter, is on the cards. On the operational side, TDR will be hoping the ever-driven Rose and Hattrell can get the tills ringing again and iron out remaining glitches.
Rose once called being a chief executive “exhausting” but he is said to want a once great business to thrive and for employees to be proud to work at Asda. It is likely his swansong as a retail executive so best of luck to him.
Brand names are often a feature of scams, according to new research, with a third of UK adults recalling frauds using brands they were familiar with, a ploy to make them more convincing. The result is UK brands being “weaponised on an industrial scale”, according to DNS Research Federation. Those most likely to be misused are drawn from many sectors with technology, media and telecoms topping the list. Home delivery and courier companies come second.
Scammers’ tactics include targeting consumers at vulnerable moments, such as during the car hire process when you may be disoriented from jet lag and transfer money willingly to a fraudulent website, a type of authorised push payment (APP) fraud. Lucien Taylor, the DNS founder, also sees a lot of bogus investment, forex trading and crypto sites.
Banks I have spoken to are clearly concerned about the potential cost of APP fraud as new rules loom. From October 7, UK payment service providers will be required to reimburse all customers who fall victim to APP fraud, save for limited exceptions. Several weeks ago the compensation limit was set at £85,000 despite calls for it to be lower.
Taylor believes the best way to tackle scammers, which are often well organised and large criminal gangs, is to break down the silos between firms and share information. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance, to which it is a data supplier, is an organisation that hopes to facilitate this. Surprisingly given their reputation for secrecy, founding members are drawn from big tech.
There has been enthusiastic engagement to date from the banks and governments according to DNS, but it is missing representation from the home delivery sector, travel, pharma and others. Together, industries could operate as a giant neighbourhood watch scheme, reducing cost for business and increasing consumer protection. This will require a different level of co-operation to what has been the norm until now.
Perhaps this statistic from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance will banish any lingering complacency that this is necessary: more than $1 trillion was lost by consumers to scams last year.
Still on the subject of brands, not many get to become nouns in their own right, but Tupperware has that distinction. Its airtight tubs became so synonymous with food storage that many used its name when referring to any old plastic container. Certainly that is true in my household and I don’t own any actual Tupperware. And therein lies one of the issues for the 78-year-old company which has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — increased competition from rivals.
The slide towards bankruptcy was slow but steady amid rising debts and costs but falling sales. A sale is on the cards but a new owner can’t make consumers, particularly younger ones, fall more in love with plastic. Tupperware, once a miracle product and the basis for many sales parties, could become a relic without fresh innovation.