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Asda puts over 150 jobs at risk after Christmas sales slump

The British supermarket chain is planning to remove over 80 managerial posts alongside multiple warehouse roles.

Shubhendu Vimal January 19 2026

UK supermarket chain Asda has moved more than 150 roles into redundancy consultation, following weak Christmas trading that pushed its grocery market share to a record low.

The Telegraph reported that the chain is planning to remove over 80 managerial posts alongside multiple warehouse roles as part of wider cost-cutting across several major distribution centres.

Proposals outlined in the report include scaling back staff responsible for delivery handling at larger warehouses and placing logistics employees in Yorkshire at risk, as parcel operations are partially outsourced to delivery company Evri.

These steps follow a run of restructuring actions introduced over the past 18 months under chairman Allan Leighton.

Last July, Asda reduced in-store middle management through widespread manager redundancies while hundreds of IT positions were eliminated last year after a failed technology upgrade.

The report said that the retailer’s market share fell to 11.4% in the 12 weeks to 28 December after sales declined by 4.2%, making it the only major UK supermarket to record a drop in Christmas trading.

Consultations are underway to determine the final number of departures as Asda seeks to steady performance and recover lost share.

For Q3 2025, the company recorded lower underlying sales, blaming the decline on significant disruption linked to a large-scale technology overhaul.

Revenues excluding fuel totalled £5.1bn ($6.76bn), with like-for-like sales decreasing 2.8%.

In a trading update, Asda said results were affected by “severe disruption” following the systems cutover from Project Future, which “materially impacted” trading.

Last December, Asda named Cal Corcoran as group chief information officer.

He assumed the position on 5 January 2026 and now oversees the retailer’s technology and data operations as the business continues operating independently after separating from Walmart.

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