Asda is a UK supermarket chain that sells food, clothing and general merchandise. It became a subsidiary of the American chain Wal-Mart in 1999 and is now the second largest chain in the UK after Tesco. As Wal-Mart's largest overseas subsidiary, Asda accounts for almost half of the company's international sales. The first Wal-Mart Supercentre opened in 2000. The company was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd in 1949. The ASDA name emerged in 1965 with the merger of the Asquith chain and Associated Dairies as an abbreviation of ASquith and DAiries. The Asquith business dated back to the 1920s and was founded in West Yorkshire. By 1970 Asda had over thirty stores and over the next few years petrol filling stations were added to expand the new superstore format. During the 1980s Asda was a subsidiary of ASDA-MFI plc following a merger. After MFI and Allied Carpets were sold the company name changed to Asda Group plc. The dairy division was sold and renamed Associated Fresh Foods. The Asda Foundation, Asda's charitable trust, was set up in 1988 to support local charitable causes. Presently Asda supports Children In Need, Tickled Pink and Tommy's.
Asdas online service was launched in 1998 and began with a dedicated depot based in Croydon, South London. Sales being lower than expected led to redundancies and Asda online shopping emulated the Tesco store-based model instead. The range of George clothing was introduced in 1989 and Asda electricals was launched in January 2007 to compete with Tesco's Tesco Direct. As part of Asda's online business, Asda electrical at www.asda-electricals.co.uk (note: www.asdaelectricals.co.uk is owned by another company) offers more than 3,000 domestic and home electrical products.
Asdas main website can be found at www.Asda.co.uk (www.asda.com just redirects you to it). In addition to sections that reflect different departments, allowing you to buy products ranging from Asda garden furniture or DVDs to Asda mobile phones, there is also access to a store locator so that you can find Asda's nearest store to you. Books, CDs, games, flowers, furniture and gifts can all be bought online. There is also an Asda optician, pharmacy and digital photo centre. Asda financial services include a range of home and car insurance products as well as savings plans and an Asda credit card. You can even buy foreign currency online and have it delivered to your door. The grocery products that everyone associates with Asda are also available to order online for home delivery.
Asda home shopping offers a wide range of electrical products at www.asda-electricals.com (again note: www.asdaelectricals.com is owned by another company) where you can buy a DVD player, Asda TV, home and kitchen appliances such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners, audio equipment, cameras, health and beauty items such as hair dryers and accessories. Specifications of each item are listed on the website as is availability and when you should expect to receive the product if you order it immediately. Related products are detailed in case what you are looking for is out of stock, as well as any accessories that might be available. Project categories are listed on the website so that you can easily find the type of item you're looking for or browse through what's available.
All major credit cards are accepted as payment and Asda home delivery makes a charge according to the specific item you order. Products can be sent to an address other than your own as long as you supply your billing address first so that your order may be processed. Asda do not currently offer an installation service or collect old products. If you decide against keeping the goods once you have received them, Asda allow you to return the items so long as you notify them within seven days and they are not personalised or have a broken seal (e.g. software). Goods supplied by Asda Electrics are subject to a manufacturers guarantee that normally covers the appliance for parts and labour for 12 months from the date of purchase. Some items carry a guarantee for longer than 12 months and this is highlighted in the user manual. Faulty electric goods can be replaced or refunded once the item is returned. Although you can contact Asda on line for advice regarding faults, they recommend that it is often easier to contact the manufacturer directly.
Asdas online shopping offers Asda mobiles on pay as you go or monthly contract at their dedicated mobile site www.asda-phones.co.uk (www.asdaphones.co.uk is owned by another company so take care typing in). There is a wide range of PAYG Asda phones including popular brands such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola. Monthly contracts are offered with T-mobile, Orange, Vodafone and 3. Full tariff information is included relating to the different price plans on offer so that you can compare the tariffs. If you're after a particular type of Asda phone you can search the website by brand and browse the different models available. It's also possible to buy a SIM card only for Asda's mobile service although SIMS for monthly contracts with other providers are delivered with free handsets.
Asda's own mobile service is partnered with Vodafone and so its range covers 98% of the UK population. Asda mobile phone allows you to keep your old phone number by obtaining your Port Authorisation Code from your previous provider and it can be used in both the UK and abroad. SIM cards can be bought through Asdas home shopping or in store. A customer helpline is available seven days a week for you to use if you experience any problems with one of Asdas phones. There is one simple price plan for Asda's mobile service meaning that you only pay one rate for calls made in the UK to another UK phone, whatever network it's on or whatever time of day it is. A wide range of mobile accessories is also available online ranging from headsets to chargers or memory cards. The information given by Asda online enables you to judge whether or not a particular product is compatible with your model of mobile phone.
Unlike some other online stores with various departments, Asda has chosen to host dedicated websites at different website addresses. Such has led to people typing in phrases such as Asdamobile, Asdamobiles and Asdaphone for their mobile phones services with the respective web addresses being all over the shop www.asda-mobile.com shows a copy of their main mobile site, www.asda-phone.co.uk redirects to their entertainment website, www.asda-phones.com redirects to their main .co.uk version and they don't even own www.asda-mobile.co.uk so if you're not one for bookmarking things it is best to start from their main site and click through from there. But even then there is no catching net for the most common errors with www.adsa.co.uk, www.adsa.com, www.asdas.co.uk and www.asdas.com all being owned by completely different companies. This patterns extends across the range of domains with none of the electrical variants such as www.asda-electrical.co.uk or www.asda-electrical.com being owned either. If you are going to take the leap of greating dedicated sites for individual products then it is always in the best interests of the customer to own the variants too. Last thing you want is your potential customers hitting a site owned by someone else who takes their personal information and runs amuck with it. You probably wouldn't be liable but certainly it would leave a bad taste in the mouth of that potential (lost?) customer. Obviously the extent of this cannot be fully covered in this short article but needless to say that if you are using your own computer then bookmark the right site once you are there and if you can't, always come back through the main Asda site ... spelling it right of course!
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