Q&A: Asda's retail director Mark Ibbotson

Have you crystallised your thinking on the future of your big-box stores as retailers ponder whether they have too much space?

We are always reviewing our space and capacity. The use of the box is being brought up to date. Customers like the convenience of our community space. For example, in our Watford store mother and baby groups meet every week as do Girl Guides, Brownies and Cubs. We have stores that have 60,000 customers a week so it’s great to be a hub.

How do you balance offering community space and retail needs?

We hold a lot less stock now and we have stores with big warehouses that I have to decide whether to make selling space or community rooms. We also have lots of rooms in older stores that were for counting cash or processing invoices, cavernous spaces that have long been redundant that we’re letting the community use.

What are your expectations for Christmas?

The press always questions why you are putting Christmas products in early but festive confectionery is ticking over nicely. We will also see more multichannel shopping this Christmas - a higher than average proportion of Asda mums use smartphones and this Christmas will be the absolute tipping point on tablet and smartphone use.

How are you preparing for Morrisons’ entry into online grocery in January?

We’re keeping an eye on it, it keeps us on our game. We set up online food 15 years ago and for a 15-year-old business to still have double-digit comparatives is incredible given we are up against tough competition.

Are you confident you can fight off competition from Aldi?

While Aldi is a business in growth we are pleased with what our customers are telling us about the price gap. We have been aggressive on price and we have seen our price gap against the other big four retailers and Aldi improve.