Asda is the second largest supermarket in the UK with over £15bn of annual sales through over 250 large-format supermarkets and hypermarkets.  The group was acquired in 1999 by Wal-Mart, the £150bn turnover retailer with over 3000 stores globally.  Wal-Mart is the world's largest company.  Much is written about both companies, and their exceptionally successful histories, which we won't repeat here.

Iain Spence worked with Asda for 10 years as an employee and subsequently as a business consultant, gaining a deep understanding of the way that Asda and Wal-Mart operate and of their cultures. Below are a sample of the many projects and assignments I have led and supported within this world-class retailer.

References

Assignments

Asda Online Development

Led the development of Asda's e-commerce channels.  Developed and launched online shopping service, Sky Active interactive TV, customer service centre, and national fulfilment operation.  Read More

Home Shopping Supply Chain Transformation

Technical and business architecture review of e-retail fulfilment infrastructure and migration plan defined.  Managed the implementation of new e-commerce picking systems into retail store chain. Read More

CRM & Data Strategy

Developed a vision and strategy for the collection and use of customer data across all of Asda's sales and marketing channels and across all business and service lines. Read More

Business & Systems Integration

Led the business and systems integration of all financial and back-office operations following the acquisition of Asda by Wal-Mart.  Over 120,000 people impacted by the changes, which replaced stock and cash management systems, all ledger and analytics systems and changed all accounting and management information. Read More

Financial Services Launch

Set up the programme office, including management processes, materials and resources, and creation of baseline programme plan for major strategic project to create a retail financial services business.  The programme co-ordinated activities of both the retailer and its several financial service provider partners.

Internal Audit Outsourcing

Restructuring of an outsourced Internal Audit function, improving output by over 40% and reducing costs by over 30%. Leadership of the corporate risk management processes.

Sales-Based Replenishment

Review of retail supply chain operations, creation of business and systems strategy to build sales-driven replenishment. Securing of business buy-in and initiation of implementation project.

Cash Management Automation

Re-engineered Asda's cash management operation, reducing headcount by 1000 and reducing costs by £5m pa. Read More

Loyalty Programme Evaluation

Commercial evaluation of Asda's loyalty trial programme.  Recommended and implemented the closure of the Asda Club loyalty programme.

Accounts Payable Alignment

Organisational restructure of accounts payable function, re-aligning teams by account grouping to improve accountability. Delivery of 30% headcount savings through deployment of workflow and imaging solutions.

Workflow & Imaging Implementation

Business analysis, systems design and project management of implementation of a document imaging and workflow operation within an accounts payable operation, with efficiency savings of over 30%.

Retail Security Restructure

Restructuring of retail loss prevention and security function, releasing 50% headcount savings whilst increasing effectiveness through targeting activities - saving ?20m pa.

Store Development Process Re-engineering

In-depth review of the cost structures for building a new out-of-town retail store. Changes identified and subsequently implemented in the design and build management process which resulted in a cost saving of over 10% on a cost base of over £10m per store.

Banking Re-negotiation

Commercial restructuring of retail treasury arrangements including retail banking, cash transit and credit and debit card handling. The cost saving following commercial tendering and negotiation of contracts resulted in savings of over £1m pa. Restructured the operations and teams, reducing headcount by 30%.