Asda, which has stores at King's Lynn, Swaffham, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket and Ipswich, revealed it had put forward proposals to staff last month with workers in its home shopping and ambient teams affected.

It is believed a few people at each store in section leader roles could be affected by the proposed changes.

An Asda spokesman said: 'In November, we began consulting with colleagues in our grocery home shopping and ambient teams about potential changes to the way they work to improve availability for customers.

'In an ever changing sector, these proposed changes are about making sure we're doing the best job for our customers in the most efficient way possible.

'While these are only proposals, we know talking about change is unsettling which is why we're working with our colleagues to get their views before any final decisions are made early next year.'

This follows a pattern in the retail industry which has seen Asda's fellow Big Four supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury's announce cuts this year.

Asda had previously announced a review of roles at its Drayton High Road store in Norwich.

The supermarket giant has been feeling the heat in the under-pressure food retail industry this year.

Asda had endured a turbulent year as competition has intensified, fuelled by the rise of cut-price rivals Aldi and Lidl. In the summer the company released its poorest annual results since its takeover by Walmart as pre-tax profit for 2016 fell 19% to £791.7m, and sales fell from £22.3bn to £21.6bn.

Tesco is also cutting 2,300 staff jobs this year, while Sainsbury's is also axing 1,000 head-office jobs.