End of an era as Asda veteran Nichole Tinnion announces departure from UK grocery giant

Nichole Tinnion has left Asda, where she spent 13 and a half years, holding a number of roles during that time, most recently Senior Director - Technology.

In a LinkedIn post, in which she did not reveal her next move, she said: "The end of an era. Thank you so much Asda."

This followed a post in December in which she commented: "14 years ago I walked into Asda House for the first time; a bright eyed, bushy tailed teenager. There was an intense game of five-a-side football being played in the atrium and I thought… this is the place for me!"

"14 jobs later, it’s time to start a new chapter and push myself out of my comfort zone with a new challenge! In 47 days I’ll leave the place that has genuinely made me who I am both professionally and personally. And I’ve loved every minute of it. I love this business, the people, the opportunities and the ethos of putting customers and colleagues at the heart of everything we do."

Under pressure

Asda is facing a number of major challenges, including falling market share, declining sales, and substantial financial losses, primarily due to intense competition, debt from its 2021 buyout, and ongoing costs from separating from Walmart's IT systems.

It recently shared a Q3 2025 trading update, reporting total revenues (excluding fuel) of £5.1 billion and a 2.8% decline in like-for-like sales.

Asda is a fundamentally decent business but it has zero defensable differential, and that's a death wish. So says Richard Hammond, CEO and Founder at Uncrowd.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Can't beat Aldi on price. Can't match Tesco or Sainsburys on data, has none of the touches of Morrisons to even build a proposition on. Cannot afford to waste cash on digital. And back to Aldi, Tesco and Sainsburys; it has zero in-range step ups that can add a couple of vital pounds to most baskets.”

Asda must immediately find the customer scenarios that it can win today, and operationally double down on winning those, Hammond argues. Then it must closely analyse its relative competitive position store by store across the entire estate. That means getting the data on every competitor in market.

“It can be done, we do it every day. Use that pinpoint relative data to find the portion of the estate that has a local opportunity to win share, and take that while it exists,” Hammond commented. “Exploit others' local weaknesses, where they exist. And they do exist. We know this. All the while looking deep into the data to find the longer term identity for the business.”

He concluded: “Or, as is hinted for the forthcoming: it can slash and burn margin to the point where the room to do anything is gone and the capital owners lose patience. Asda is worth saving, it can be saved, but to do so requires vision beyond it's own green walls. I wish the current leadership all the goodwill in the world.”

Asda did not respond to our request for comment.