Asda is a household name in the U. K and is renowned as one of the leading national supermarkets. Asda is a nationwide chain of supermarkets, which has branches across many parts of the world. More recently Asda was taken over by the retail giant Wal-Mart which has a retail empire in the USA. Asda is a public limited company. It is open to the public; therefore stakeholders can purchase shares into the company. Asda is supermarket, which aims to provide its customers with the best possible goods and service with its permanently low prices.
Asda’s aim is to provide the best service to its customers and beat its competitors. Asda has branches all over the world, it is very well known by the public as well as the supermarket industry. Asda is in the industry of oligopoly as it has many competitors. There are many advantages for Asda in being a public limited company but at the same time there are also several drawbacks. Asda is a large company, therefore it has its shares bought and sold on the stock exchange. This is beneficial as large amounts of capital can be raised very quickly.
However having shares quoted on the stock exchange is very expensive. Furthermore a crucial disadvantage for Asda is that control of the business may be lost by its original shareholders when large quantities of shares are being purchased perhaps as part of a take-over bid. Asda have stated that selling shares on the stock exchange is a risky business, as they have good days and bad days. If the issue of new shares coincides with a bad day this provides the company with a lot of chaos. For instance if Asda hopes to sell 1 million shares at i?? 1 each and all goes well, it will raise i??
1 million; but on a bad day it may only be able to sell half these shares at the given price. Therefore there is quite a deal of luck involved, and the date for the launch of new shares has to be chosen well in advance. Some companies are very unlucky with this as they launch their share when people are gloomy about prospects in the economy. However before the launch of new shares Asda arrange a ‘placing’ with a merchant bank.
The merchant bank then recommends the companies shares to some of its share buying institutions with which it deals, i. e. pension funds and insurance companies etc, they may then agree to buy say one-tenth of the new shares. This way the merchant bank makes sure that the shares are placed with large investors before the actual date of issue comes around. Then even if it is a bad day on the stock exchange the company’s money is secure when the actual date of issue comes around. One of the main advantages in being a public limited company is that if the company gets bankrupt it will not loose everything, but rather just the business. For example the owner of Asda will not loose their house or personal belongings etc as they would have limited liability.
Asda is continuously having price rollback campaigns every month and providing its customers with the best service and goods. It is able to compete with its rivals due to the fact that its status as a successful PLC (which is owned by the retail giant that is Wal-mart) has allowed it to use its vast financial support and human resources to effectively compete with rival supermarket chains. E2) – THE MAIN ACTIVITIES, AIMS & OBJECTIVES OF ASDA It is the mission statement of Asda, ‘To be the worlds leading supermarket’. It has many aims and objective.
Asda believe that by following its aims and objectives, it can successfully turn their mission statement into a reality. 1. As their main aim is to maximise sales and profits, Asda uses media such as radio, newspapers, magazines and largely television to heavily advertise its advertising campaigns about the latest promotions, price cuts and new product lines and services. Such advertisement campaigns and promotions have given Asda a loyal customer base, in addition to attracting new customers as well as an envied reputation for quality products at low, low prices.
2. Asda want to make the supermarket an enjoyable and happy place for the staff to work together in harmony, as Asda are aware that the attitude of their staff reflects back on customers and the service they ultimately receive. A pleasant working environment is created for the staff in which to work in, as well as benefits and incentives such as staff discounts, company pensions, beneficial share packages and opportunities for job promotions and salary bonuses.
3. In order to achieve complete customer satisfaction and minimise any complaints about its products, services or staff, Asda ensures it provides customers with a customer service section at each supermarket, whereby customers can communicate the complaints and enquiries, in addition to registering any comments as regards to products and services in the customer comments log-book. It prides itself in its commitment towards customer satisfaction. 4.
In order to make the experience of shopping at Asda as warm, safe, welcoming, pleasurable and as convenient as possible, Asda has renewed many of its larger stores by providing the all-American style of shopping whereby customers have all the services and products provided usually by local businesses, at hand under the convenience of one roof. Many of the larger branches of Asda now have in-house cafes, dry-cleaners, opticians, bakeries, fast-food take-aways and butcheries in addition to having their own petrol forecourts and car-wash centres.
Many branches have now diversified into the retail electrical, home ware and clothing market in addition to providing financial and insurance services. 5. To keep the customers happy and satisfied with the products, prices, services and staff. In order to ensure a loyal customer base and continue to attract new customers, Asda ensures they take advantage of their massive buying power and leading position in the supermarket industry in order to purchase the best quality goods and latest products at the most competitive prices.
These savings and product promotions and price-cuts are heavily advertised both through the national media and throughout its branches nationwide. Furthermore, as an additional precaution, Asda prides itself on the fact that customer satisfaction with its products and prices are always maintained as its staff continually check prices locally on a weekly basis, in order to ensure the supermarket always provides the lowest prices around.
Asda strives to provide as much relevant information about products and services throughout the store, in a manner, which is understandable to the customer. It intends to achieve this by communicating various types of information such as public safety notices, new promotions and products and services, price reductions, charity fund-raising events through its regular customer magazines, leaflets, posters, customer information desk and staff.
