Asda Plans Same-Day Food 'Collect' Service

Britain’s second biggest supermarket Asda plans to let shoppers collect groceries on the same day as the order is placed.

It will become the first major supermarket in Britain to offer the service as it seeks to step ahead of its key rivals Sainsbury’s and Tesco. The idea will begin as a trial this month and is part of a £700 million investment drive in its digital strategy and store opening program.

Asda, owned by US retail giant Walmart, is also planning to introduce a non-grocery ‘click and collect’ service to all its 568 stores. The number of its sites offering the click and collect service for groceries will doube this year to 200.

It is also establishing collection points away from stores at sites such as Asda petrol stations, a business park in Reading and a park-and-ride facility in Nottingham. Meanwhile, Asda has launched a ‘drive through’ service in York that allows customers to remain in their car, alert staff using their mobile phones and wait for a member of staff to load shopping into their car. nIt has also considered introducing the service at other busy locations such as train stations. 

‘By focusing on their needs through accelerating our investment in the technology and infrastructure to make shopping more convenient, customers can shop for what they want, when they want it,’ said Asda chief executive Andy Clarke.

Last month Asda opened its third purpose built home shopping facility in Nottingham last month employing 600 staff. The 120,000 square foot ‘dark’ store is laid out in a similar way to a standard store but is not open to customers. It includes a team of bakers preparing bread from 4am, a home-baked pizza counter making products to order and extended delivery slots for customers in the area from 6am to 11pm.

Tags: Asda, Walmart, click and collect, online retail, ecommerce, internet shopping, etail, web retailing, superamrkets, Sainsbury's, Tesco