George boss vows to grab clothing top spot by 2011

George managing director Anthony Thompson said its extensive plans to sharpen up its ranges, pricing, service and investments in infrastructure would help it to leapfrog Marks & Spencer, Primark and Tesco to become number one by 2011.

“Over the next three years, if we were to achieve our goal of being number one by volume we will need to deliver around£400 million to£500 million in sales growth,” said Thompson. Part of this growth will also come from George sales at its non-food format, Asda Living.

Thompson, a former clothing director at M&S, also vowed to overtake Tesco to become the UK’s number one supermarket clothing retailer by the end of this year. “Tesco have inched ahead – and I mean inched – of us and it is not acceptable.”

He admitted that George has underperformed over the past two years, but stressed it was still growing. “The business is not broken but it has certainly stalled a bit,” he said.

George has also introduced two sub-brands: Boston Crew and Moda at George, as part of its plans to simplify its brands.

Today, George will launch a TV ad campaign for children’s clothing, as it guns to strengthen its leading position in the kids clothing market.

Thompson also confirmed that Asda will launch clothing online later this year.