Supermarket chain Asda is planning to lose hundreds of staff at its head office and will be in talks with the rest of its team about complicated changes to the business's structure.

Asda has confirmed that the Leeds Head Office, which currently employs 3,000 people, would see considerable job losses, reports Food Manufacture.

The reason for the changes is due to external pressures that have occurred over the past year and a half, which have required Asda to change the structure of its business.

Despite launching a new strategy in response to the evolving retail market, the supermarket has been faced with accelerating pressures, according to a spokeswoman for Asda.

Before making the decision to cut a large number of jobs at its Leeds Head Office, Asda last week invested £500 million in price cuts as part of its plan to win back customers and gain a competitive edge over other retailers.

Asda has now formed a partnership with European Marketing Distribution (EMD), which pools the buying power of 250 supermarket chains, in order to help the retailer out of its rough patch.

Speaking on the partnership, Asda's boss Andy Clarke said that he hoped that working with the EMD and its network would give the supermarket "significant economies of scale".