Online sales at Asda doubled in the last quarter, as the coronavirus crisis caused a fundamental shift in shopping habits.

The supermarket chain, which has stores in Gloucester, Quedgeley and Cheltenham, reported a 3.8 per cent rise in like-for-like sales for the three months to 30th June 30. Online sales doubled during this time, as it increased its delivery capacity by 65 per cent, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Click-and-collect sales also quadrupled for the quarter, as increasing numbers of customers chose to avoid visiting supermarkets during the pandemic.

Asda said it had expected to reach these levels of online shopping in eight years, but had reached them within a matter of weeks when coronavirus and lockdown hit. It said Covid-19 has created a 'structural shift' in customer grocery shopping behaviour.

The chain said it will continue to expand its online offer, while also maintaining focus on the in-store shopping trip, as customer focus shifts from health concerns to concerns about the financial impact of the pandemic.

Asda is continuing to expand a delivery trial with Uber Eats, which will be available at 25 more stores over the next eight weeks.

Meanwhile, figures just released by Kantar show that Asda suffered the biggest fall in market share of the Big Four supermarket chains in the 12 weeks to 9th August.