Asda has overtaken Primark as Britain's second-biggest clothing retailer by volume after a makeover from a former Marks & Spencer executive. Industry figures seen by The Times show that sales of Asda's George clothing brand rose by nearly 6 per cent in the 24 weeks to the middle of September.

The increase meant that Asda's market share rose to 9.5 per cent, enough for the supermarket chain to leapfrog Primark, whose share dipped from 10 per cent a year ago to 9.3 per cent. Marks & Spencer kept the top spot.

Anthony Thompson, a former retail director at M&S, joined Asda as managing director of George last year. He said in March that George had lost its way by focusing far too much on the younger fashion market and forgetting “fortysomething” shoppers. He vowed to overtake Marks & Spencer by 2011 as Britain's biggest clothing retailer by concentrating far more on basics such as socks and underwear and by bringing back mothers with young children.

Asda recently sold about 100,000 units of a new £15 winter black coat in less than a fortnight. A £16 copy of a prom dress worn by a star of High School Musical 3 has sold out before hitting the shelves after 20,000 pre-orders.

As budget retailers, Asda and Tesco typically fare better in the volume league tables as the data records only the number of items sold rather than the price. August and September are also strong for supermarkets, given the popularity of cheaper back-to-school clothing ranges.

The latest industry figures, collected by TNS, the market research group, will fuel speculation over the possibility that prices at Primark are edging up. Volume sales at Primark over the 24 weeks to September 14 were quoted as being nearly 10 per cent down on a year ago. However, Associated British Foods, which owns Primark, said last month that revenues at the discount clothing chain were holding up despite the credit crunch.

Aggressive expansion by the supermarkets has transformed Britain's clothing market over the past decade, attracting shoppers away from chains such as Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Next.

Two weeks ago, Asda began to sell clothing online when it launched Asda Direct, a non-food internet and catalogue retailing operation. J Sainsbury is also beefing up its TU clothing business and its volume sales are thought to have soared by nearly 30 per cent in the past six months. Asda overtook Tesco for third spot in the clothing market in the summer, although Terry Green, Tesco's chief executive of clothing, said that he preferred to wait for the full-year figures before judging the fortunes of the two rivals.

— Marks & Spencer is cutting dozens of head office jobs only weeks after slashing redundancy terms for its staff. The high street retailer said that it had begun consultation with staff in its property and store design and development departments after a decision to suspend a store makeover programme in the coming year. The total number of jobs likely to go is expected to be fewer than 100.

— The Cooperative will have to sell 126 Somerfield stores for its £1.6 billion acquisition of the supermarket chain to get the green light from the Office of Fair Trading. In a statement, the OFT said that while there were no national competition concerns as a result of the takeover, there were some issues in local markets. Somerfield has 880 stores. The Coop bought Somerfield in July in a deal that cements its place as Britain’s fifth-biggest supermarket chain, with sales of £8 billion a year.

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