Asda has chartered its own cargo ship to ensure key festive items, such as toys, clothing and decorations, reach its stores, a latest example of the extreme measures retailers are taking to mitigate pre-Christmas supply chain problems.
The supermarket said in a trading update on Monday that sales fell by 0.7% in the three months to 31 October that it carried 350 containers of items from east Asia was its first private charter.
Asda said it had also stocked up on extra turkeys and pigs in blankets in stores and was building supplies of mince pies, confectionery and puddings to deal with problems in the final weeks before Christmas Day.
Sales in the summer quarter were down in comparison to the same period a year ago, when spending on homes and gardens was very strong as families adapted to lock-in life.
Asda said it had increased the capacity of its grocery delivery service to 1 m slots in the final week before Christmas, up from 765,000 in the same period last year, due to rising concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid- 19, which has raised concerns about more high street lockdowns.
The retailers are pulling out of the stops to keep shelves stocked because of concerns about Christmas deliveries. A shortage of qualified lorry drivers, disruption of the distribution of containers during the pandemic and hold ups in production in east Asia have all kept up delivery of products to the UK because of Covid restrictions.
The changes to immigration rules after Brexit have resulted in shortages of labour in the UK and the global supply problems.
The problems have affected availability of a wide range of goods, from kitchen appliances and computers to turkeys and pigs in blankets.
The shortages have forced retailers to come up with inventive solutions. John Lewis teamed up with other retailers to charter container ships to deliver products and also flew in items such as Christmas lights. Tesco has increased its use of rail freight and offered lorry drivers 1,000 signing on fees in order to secure deliveries.
Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa, the billionaire brothers who bought a majority stake in Asda this year in partnership with the private equity firm TDR Capital, said: We know how much Christmas means to our customers, especially after some missed out on celebrations with friends and family last year.
Our colleagues have pulled out all the stops during the last few months to make sure customers can get their favourite festive products at Asda and enjoy the Christmas they deserve.