Supermarket drama: Top exec drops Asda for rival chain in surprise move
UK grocery chain Morrisons snags high-profile exec Andrew Staniland who was set to join competitor Asda. This unexpected switch adds to the challenges faced by Asdaʼs current leadership
In a sudden turn-of-events Andrew Staniland has picked Morrisons over Asda making an unexpected career u-turn. The well-known grocery expert will start his new role as group trading director at Morrisons in early-02-2025
Rami Baitieh Morrisonsʼ chief exec praised Stanilands expertise: his track-record at other stores makes him a top-notch pick for the company (having worked at Iceland Foods Aldi and Waitrose). The move is extra-interesting because Staniland worked at Morrisons about 8 years ago
This switch hits Asda pretty hard — they thought theyd got their man for the fresh-and-frozen division. The Leeds-based chain is going through rough times; its market share dropped from 14.8 to 12.6 percent since the Issa brothers took over. Lord Rose Asdas chairman even said he felt embarrassed about the chains performance
Asda has been trying to fix things up lately:
- Putting £13m into more staff hours
- Getting new senior people from other stores
- Looking at IT department changes
- Dealing with recent head office job cuts
The timing isnt great for Asda — they lost their chief exec Mohin Issa in Sept-2024 and commercial director Paul Gillow left mid-2024. Meanwhile Morrisons seems pretty happy about getting their ex-employee back; Staniland worked there as a buyer from 2012-16
