In recent years there's been a trend for big retailers to open smaller versions of their large stores for 'convenience' shopping. And they usually expect customers to pay for that convenience through higher prices. As usual, Asda is different. Yes, we're opening hundreds of smaller Supermarkets in town centre and suburban areas, but no, we're not asking customers to pay extra for the privilege.

They may be smaller in size, but they're just as big on customer service and everyday low prices as our large superstores. Perfect for shoppers who want Asda value and service in handy local places.

How we're achieving this commercial miracle is not something we'd want to share with our competitors. Suffice to say it's a tribute to the remarkable talents of everyone who's been involved in the Small Supermarkets project up to now and will be taking it forward into the future.

And what an exciting future it is. Through a combination of acquisition and organic growth we've moved into this space with incredible speed, opening around 150 small Supermarkets in 2011 alone and with plenty more to come. It will continue to call for very innovative thinking, fantastic planning, superb project management and, above all, the courage to challenge conventional wisdom. That's how we broke the mould of convenience shopping = premium prices. We've set the standard for others to try and match.