Dunwoody somehow managed to hang on to her post, but Gibson, above, was this week booted off the Technology Committee after what he describes as a stitch up.Having used the post to oppose ID cards, Gibson learned on Monday that Labour had given his job to the Lib Dems.Although jobs on such committees are officially immune from party political interference, Gibson smells a rat."People say I've been shafted," he tells me. "My intention is to create an environment of profitable growth. I do not intend to mortgage profitability for an extraordinary sales line."Whether this will be enough to stave off either criticism from Wal-Mart HQ in Bentonville or Sainsbury's hastening advance is far from clear.. * With his Commons majority reduced to a shaky 67, Tony Blair has decided to renew hostilities with the "awkward squad" of MPs, who have occasionally had the cheek to vote against him. First on the PM's hit list have been Gwyneth Dunwoody and Ian Gibson, a pair of left-wingers who (until recently) chaired two of Westminster's most influential committees: the Transport Select Committee, and Science and Technology Committee. Blair has just tried to sack both of them.
But he conceded this could not come at the expense of the bottom line. Yet its failure to persuade the Government to let it bid for Safeway has left it hamstrung in terms of gaining critical mass.One retail analyst, who did not wish to be named, said: "Asda faces structural issues because it is not able to operate the same array of formats [as Tesco], so it is not laying down as much new space and not improving its buying terms and efficiencies as much. While unacceptable, a slowdown was always a possibility."He intends to introduce more promotions; rely more heavily on the sort of in-store "theatre" that was a feature during Mr Norman's tenure; improve in-store retail standards; and push Asda's non-food lines more aggressively to get the sales line moving. He countered: "It [the slowdown] is off the back of four years of extraordinary growth. If they want to kick-start sustained sales growth they have to figure out how to open more hypermarkets, improve their brand appeal or operate supermarkets better."Mr Bond has said it will take at least 18 months to get Asda's performance, which he admitted was below par, back on track.
It has had a boost to sales [from the massive investment in prices as a result of its takeover by Wal-Mart] that has proved transitory It has reached a natural level of local market share. It has soaked up price sensitive customers and it is clearly not appealing to people who aren't that price sensitive."Analysts at Smith Barney added: "Asda's problems stem from an intransigent strategy, where it has only promoted on EDLP (everyday low pricing) for so long that any changes in strategy are taking a long time to feed through to customers. A move upmarket with "Extra Special" ranges and more multi-buys do not seem to have had any short-term impact on sales."As well as a resurgent Sainsbury's, Asda has suffered from Safeway's conversion - albeit somewhat botched - at the hands of Wm Morrison into a third major player to go down the "everyday low price" route.Because of its focus on hypermarkets - its average store its 40,000 square feet - Asda has eschewed the chance to build a presence in the booming convenience store sector, which has done so much to boost Tesco's top line and offset the difficulties associated with opening large stores. So where has Asda gone wrong?For starters, the group has fenced itself into something of a box with its simplistic low-price strategy. Its main appeal has long been to cash-strapped shoppers looking to stock up on household basics for less. Thanks to Asda's history and Wal-Mart's legacy in the realm of non-food, customers are as happy to shop at Asda for cheap towels and tops as cheap teabags.Paul Smiddy, at Robert W Baird, said: "Asda has had an exceptionally good run. They said Asda recorded its "worst ever implied sales growth" last month at just 1.5 per cent.