Asda to slash grocery prices by 15% in latest round of price war with discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl

Walmart-owned company pledges to lower thousands of prices of everyday staples

Asda has pledged to cut prices further after it announced £500 million of reductions earlier this year (Istock Photo)

Asda has fired the latest salvo in an increasingly savage supermarket price war, as new chief executive Sean Clarke slashed the prices of everyday items in an attempt to turn around the ailing grocery giant.

The Walmart-owned company said that it will lower thousands of prices of everyday staples such as sausages, beef and chicken by an average of 15 per cent.

Clarke said: “This week we're taking the next step in our journey to deliver better value for our customers and to improve quality.

“We will continue to listen to our customers and take action, with better prices for products they buy week in, week out.”

Asda has also vowed to improve the quality of its own-brand ranges, under a campaign named “That’s Better”.

Clarke, who took the helm on 11 July, is attempting to turn Asda around amid a brutal price war in the supermarket sector.

The struggling supermarket chain reported its worst quarterly performance on record in August, blaming the price war for a an eye-watering 7.5 per cent sales slump in the second quarter of the year.

The alarming results were the eighth consecutive quarter of sliding sales and followed a 5.7 per cent slump in the previous quarter.

“In the UK, the competitive environment and food deflation continued to challenge the market, significantly impacting traffic and comp sales,” Doug McMillon, Walmart's chief executive, said.

Asda and its rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s have struggled to compete with German discounters Aldi and Lidl, which now have a combined 10 per cent of the UK market share.

Today’s announcement represents the latest round in an increasingly ferocious price war and comes after Asda said in January it would pump a further £500 million into reducing prices, on top of the £1 billion in price cuts it committed to in November 2013.

“We must take radical action to win back our customers,” said the chief executive Andy Clarke in January, pointing to a lack of growth in the market.

Asda has cut 1,600 jobs in the last two years as it deperately tries to cut costs to compete.