ASDA Mission, Purpose and Values

It’s important to us that you understand what we stand for.

Our Mission: 

• to be Britain’s best value retailer exceeding customer needs every day

Our Purpose: 

• to save everyone money, every day

The Values we work to: 

• we put our customers first, every day
• we care for our colleagues, every day
• we strive to be the best we can be, every day

Welcome to ASDA

Our aim is to offer Britain’s best value weekly shop with prices that are independently shown to be lower than our main competitors, and with an excellent mix of fresh food, grocery, clothing, home, leisure and entertainment goods.

ASDA now has over 300 stores across the UK and has been part of the Wal-Mart family since 1999.

We employ 150,000 colleagues and they have a well-deserved reputation for being the best and the friendliest in the industry. Our stores are all Stores of the Community as they play a positive part in all aspects of life in their local community from establishing a new local supplier to working with the emergency services in the area. Last year our colleagues raised £1.2 million for charities.

It's no coincidence, either, that our reputation for friendly service is as inextricably linked to the ASDA brand as our reputation for quality and service.

The ASDA Story

ASDA was formed when two separate companies, Associated Dairies and the Asquith brothers' supermarket chain Queen's, came together in 1965. ASDA Stores Ltd was created, a supermarket committed to offering its customers 'permanently low prices'.

A Potted History

ASDA can trace its roots back to a group of Yorkshire farmers who formed Hindell's Dairies in the 1920s, processing and retailing milk and meat to a growing customer base. The company was extremely successful and continued to expand and diversify, acquiring more processing dairies, abattoirs, bakeries, shops, four managed farms and 22 rented farms.

The company floated in 1949 as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores Ltd. Meanwhile, an American group, GEM, came to the UK with the idea of opening large stores filled with separate shops. This revolutionary idea was not really taken up by many customers at first - in 1965 the company was ready to sell their UK holding.

Whilst GEM were exploring new ideas with these out-of-town superstores, the Asquith brothers opened the 'Queen's Supermarket' in Pontefract in 1963, offering "Permanent Reductions" and a shop open until 8pm on Fridays. This new cut price operation was so successful that the three founding members had to work 18 hours a day to keep pace and satisfy the throngs of shoppers forming an orderly line down the street!

Sites followed at Edlington in 1964 and South Elmsall in 1965. However, the new supermarkets, despite their tremendous success, needed financial backing - Associated Dairies and Queen's Supermarkets held talks and merged to create ASDA Stores Ltd. in 1965.

This new company decided to continue being revolutionary and bought the GEM chain in 1965, re-launching the stores in the ASDA Queen's name.

In 1968, Associated Dairies purchased the Asquith's stockholding - the ASDA name was now owned by one company.

Stores continued to open throughout the 1970s with great success. The 1970s were also acquisition years - the group bought Allied Retailers and some Gateway stores.

Times got harder during the 1980s - the group had spread too thinly across retail and the share price started to plummet. Recovery came with the appointment of Archie Norman and Allan Leighton who in 1991 laid down an ambitious formula for renewal and growth. The formula concentrated on restoring value at the heart of the ASDA brand and revolutionising internal communications and motivation.

In June 1999, now a successful company once more, ASDA was acquired by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and became part of the world's biggest and best retailer.

Since then, ASDA has become Britain’s second largest supermarket.  Our commitments to value, quality, colleagues and putting customers first remain the engine that drives our business, and with the backing of Wal*Mart we plan to continue delivering for customers.