Asda to test the first 24/7 Click-and-Collect pod this month

All 592 Asda stores in the UK already have Click-and-Collect points, remote or in stores. Asda even plans to reach the number of 1,000 within the next three hears. This is one of the strategies the company is following as it's going through a long and challenging period of time (with a 3.9% fall in like-for-like sales revealed in the first quarter financial results). Another plan is to open two stores in London by the end of this year, in Deptford and Wealdstone, to get closer to hight-street shoppers. UK's second largest supermarkets chain, owned by the American Walmart, also announced last February an additional £600 million financing to open 17 new stores, 36 petrol stations, 150 Click-and-Collect points and re-model 62 stores. Another £21 million will be invested in store hours.

The real innovation in Asda's scheme is the opening, this month, of the first UK's 24/7 Click-and-Collect intelligent pod. The chosen location is St Helens, a strategic commuter belt between Liverpool and Manchester. As usual, the grocery order will be made online, then the customers will just have to scan the corresponding QR code to collect their goods, including fresh items, from the temperature-controlled unit. Its three hatches are supposed to allow the delivery of thousands of orders every week, and if yours is registered before noon, it will be available at the pod by 4pm the same day. This St Helens pod is just a test for now, but if it works, Asda will surely develop the concept.

*Photo: Asda