It hasn’t been a good week for Asda. To lose a COO after six months might be considered bad luck, to have lost 0.4% of market share as well starts to look a bit careless.

It hasn’t been a good week for Asda. To lose a COO after six months might be considered bad luck, to have lost 0.4% of market share as well starts to look a bit careless.

There are perfectly valid explanations for both setbacks. Simon King, the COO brought in to great fanfare in January, wasn’t the first ex-Tesco person to struggle to adapt to the very different culture at Asda House. The Kantar data, published on Tuesday, was distorted because the extra space rivals are piling on is shown as incremental growth, whereas Netto’s existing market share was wrapped up with Asda’s and affected by the enforced disposals.

But while crisis is too strong a word, Asda isn’t in a great place. The problems are all the more surprising because it has been seeming to land some punches over recent months. In particular the Asda Price Guarantee forced Tesco into trying to emulate it, then embarrassingly having to ditch its double the difference pledge when it was abused by cunning shoppers.

But with consumer confidence on the rack, Asda - with its low-priced message - should be doing better. The Price Guarantee might have grabbed headlines, but it hasn’t gained market share, and if Kantar is right that Asda is losing shoppers to Aldi and Lidl, then chief executiveAndy Clarke’s focus on investing in quality seems to have come at the expense of its price message.

The pressure is now on Clarke to ensure the Netto acquisition makes a real difference. But it isn’t a game-changer. Right now Asda’s bold pledges of just 12 months ago to become a clear number two in food - let alone number one in non-food - look a million miles away.

An overdue apology

There was an interesting debate on The Guardian’s website this week where one of its bloggers stood up for the BBC’s now discredited Panorama programme on Primark. Almost every comment sided with Primark. When the Guardianistas are doing that, you know something’s gone wrong, so it’s good the BBC was ordered to apologise.

Fashion retailers know better than anyone the difficulties that come with modern supply chains, and no one can afford to be complacent. But the programme betrayed the bias against big business in general and fast fashion in particular in some sections of our national media. Primark’s forensic investigation of the allegations is a textbook example of how retailers can fight back.