Asda to reshape business around mums

Asda is to use findings from a rolling survey of mums to sharpen marketing to what it identifies as its key customer.

ASDA Mumdex

The supermarket’s “Mumdex” surveyed 4,000 mums about how they feel about their families, finances and the future in a bid to find out about the “realities of the changing economic landscape” and how the supermarket could support consumers.

Asda says it wanted to conduct a survey that didn’t look at house prices or sales data to measure consumer confidence, but instead talked to families.

In the first of what will become a quarterly report Asda’s chief operating officer Judith McKenna, says: “We’re proud to be a customer-focused business. Every business in the land claims to be customer-centric – but while others define themselves by the products on their shelves, and others by their history, the only definition that matters to us is an unrelenting focus on the customer. And for Asda, that’s the Asda Mum.”

It claims that the way mums feel about the future is not based on the money they have in their pocket, but about quality of life, prospects for the nation and their feelings about the community.

Offering products at the best possible prices was ranked as the most important issue for Asda, by 90% of mums. Second highest ranked is Asda’s role in providing employment (67%) and then its responsibility to stimulating local economies by offering locally-sourced products (46%).

It also reveals that 75% of mums are worse off than they were a year ago, but that 93% had changed their lifestyle to adapt to changes during the economic downturn.

Findings from Asda’s first “Mumdex” report.

42% per cent have been forced to accept a household pay cut or freeze
88% feel proud when they save money
Two thirds budget more now than a year ago – 10% buy more on credit
71% upgrade big ticket items less frequently
23% are borrowing to get by
A third of mums think media has downplayed economic impact
43% think UK economy with never be the same again

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