Asda and Walmart International have announced that Deputy CEO Roger Burnley will succeed Sean Clarke as CEO on January 1st. The two will work closely together in the run-up to the handover to ensure a smooth transition and the successful execution of Asda's Christmas strategy.

Burnley promoted to lead Asda

Burnley rejoined Asda in October 2016, after several years at Sainsbury's as retail and operations director. The move followed shortly after Sean Clarke's appointment as CEO in July 2016. At the time, Walmart International CEO Dave Cheesewright described Sean Clarke as “one of our most experienced global executives” whilst also recognising Roger as “a future CEO”. In today's announcement Cheesewright said: “Roger was purposefully brought back to Asda to partner with Sean ahead of the transition to Roger taking up the position of CEO. He and Sean have worked as a great team and I’m really confident in Roger’s ability to continue building upon our returning momentum."

Clarke to remain engaged with Walmart

Commenting on Clarke's achievements at Walmart, Cheesewright said "After more than 21 years with the company, Sean has worked across five international markets including serving as President and CEO of Walmart China and obviously here in the UK too. He’s continually shown the ability to lead critical transformation and the last 15 months are no exception. Sean will continue to lead Asda until the end of December after which, he’s taking some time out and will then remain engaged with Walmart."

Recovery underway at Asda

In a statement Roger Burnley, said: “Asda is a great business and we’ve started to realise its potential again. Sean’s focus on serving customers and simplifying the business has established a firm foundation on which we can build. Since I returned to Asda last year, I have been encouraged by the passion and professionalism of our colleagues and look forward to leading this terrific team.”

Hear direct from Asda

At the IGD Supply Chain Summit 2017, members of Asda's supply chain leadership team will detail Asda’s new plans for 2018 including a combination of physical logistics within ALS, supply chain collaboration and a view to the future of Asda's end-to-end supply chain strategy. To find out more and to book your place, click here.

Asda has unveiled its £100m facility: the world’s first fully automated retail distribution centre

 

£100m project

 

 

The facility at Warrington, which is 97% automated, uses state of the art robotic technology alongside 600 colleagues to process orders. The DC cost £100m to build and will serve 140 stores in Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, Lancashire and North Wales. The facility’s cutting edge technology is able to ensure that stores receive correct orders with 100% accuracy.

 

 

Europe’s largest distribution centre

 

 

With a 1 million square foot (92,900 sq m) capacity, Asda’s new DC is the largest in Europe. 9 robotic cranes control 27,000 pallet locations and are able to lift pallets 27 metres, which enables robots to access stock in a more efficient, space-saving way than would be possible manually. When fully operational, the facility can receive 3000 pallets a day and process around 4 million cases a week.

 

 

Walmart’s wider plan

 

 

Asda’s parent company, Walmart, has invested heavily in the distribution centre and will monitor its progress closely, with a view to replicating the facility in its North American operations. For more information on their operations, subscribers can check out the Walmart and Asda supply chain snapshots. Not a Supply Chain Analysis subscriber? Request a free trial here.

 

Walmart is bringing its British products to China with the launch of an Asda store on JD Worldwide, the cross-border ecommerce platform of JD.com.

Targeting China’s growing middle-class shoppers

In the latest step of Walmart and JD.com's strategic alliance, Walmart's UK subsidary, Asda’s, has launched a store on JD Worldwide. Asda's primary offerings on JD.com are food and health products, including items such as biscuits, coffee, tea bags, nuts, energy bars, and baby food. All products will be sourced from the UK, from various Asda brands. Asda plans to expand the product range significantly in the coming months to take advantage of Chinese consumers growing appetite for imported products.

A popular online model for market entry

Online channels are increasingly seen as a critical part of the strategy of retailers and manufacturers selling in China. China’s growing middle-classes are younger, mobile, social and keen on new products, especially imported products they regard as safer and higher quality than domestic counterparts.

Many foreign retailers are partnering with the leading online marketplaces Alibaba and JD.com instead of establishing their own websites. Just a month ago, German discounter Aldi has opened its flagship store on Albiba's Tmall Global, joining Sainsbury's, Costco and Marks & Spencer, which closed its ten retail stores in China and is focusing solely on ecommerce in the market. This low-risk approach is cheaper, faster and enables the retailers to gain access to the massive customer base of these ecommerce giants.