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New entrant into life insurance market

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005

Asda is hoping to win market share from main rival Tesco by offering a range of new products including life insurance cover.

The supermarket chain has failed to meet any on its quarterly profit and sales targets during the past year and the company is hoping that expanding into financial services will help boost its performance, reports Bloomberg.

Other retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury's already offer consumers products including banking, loans and life insurance both online and in store. However, Asda have been relatively slow to react to the advantages of expanding beyond traditional supermarket goods.

"Asda is currently operationally failing,' said Asda's chief executive officer Andy Bond.

He added: "We need to close the price gap with Tesco Plc and become more innovative."

Asda has seen its share of the UK grocery market fell to 16.6 per cent over the past three months, compared to16.7 per cent a year earlier. However, the retailer is hoping that plans to expand its number of outlets and introduce small central stores will encourage shoppers to return to them for both groceries and life insurance.


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