ASDA @t home to create 4,500 jobs with new ‘mix and match’ service
ASDA yesterday announced plans to expand its home shopping service from within the M25 to 60 per cent of the population over the next 24 months, creating up to 2,500 jobs in 2001 and up to 2,000 more in 2002. It also launches a new home shopping website (http://www.asda.com) allowing existing ASDA @t home customers to order directly over the net for the first time.
Go deeper with GlobalData
In 2001, ASDA stores in five metropolitan clusters around Lancashire, West Yorkshire, the Midlands, South East and Glasgow, will offer the ASDA @t home service. Dedicated home shopping depots will follow in each of these clusters once customers are using the service in greater numbers.
The initial store-based service will be based on its successful pilot at ASDA Farnborough. Follow-up depots will draw on the industry-leading experience ASDA has gained in running two dedicated 45,000sq ft picking centres in Croydon and Watford.
Each ASDA @t home store will initially recruit around 25 personal shoppers and drivers to operate the service, adding an additional 25 colleagues as demand for the service increases. By the end of 2001, ASDA anticipates operating a home shopping service from around a quarter of its 240 stores and from almost half by the end of 2002.
Tied to expansion plans, ASDA today also announces a number of enhancements to its home shopping service which will ensure that customers can access its service in whatever way they choose. In addition to the telephone and fax catalogue service:
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData- A new website (http://www.asda.com) goes live this morning allowing ASDA @t home customers to order directly over the net;
- ASDA announces that the service will be available through Open on BSkyB’s digital satellite TV network from January 2001;
- It confirms it is in negotiations with other digital tv providers to offer its service across a wide range of broadcast platforms;
- Extends its range to 6,000 items including all the best selling fresh, frozen and grocery lines from store including its unique curry pot and made to order pizzas as well as a selection of the ‘George Baby’ range.
Once all elements are in place, an ASDA @t home shopper will be able to ‘mix and match’ to suit their needs – place an order over the net, add a pint of milk via their TV, even cancel their order over the ‘phone.
“We’re building the home shopping service that really delivers,” said ASDA’s trading director Mike Coupe. “Great value and a joy to use, whether a customer chooses a catalogue, the internet or their TV.”
Unlike other online grocery retailers, ASDA @t home will charge the same for its products nationwide and offer the same prices as those available in-store, whether they be rollbacks or one-off ‘wow’ deals.
The web site will be available 24 hours a day with deliveries made 7am-10pm Monday-Saturday and 10am-10pm on Sundays. There is no minimum order with a low service charge of £3.50, waived on baskets over £99.
Editors Notes:
Home Shopping Service
- ASDA @t home’s first home shopping depot opened in Croydon at the end of December 1998 and was fully operational on 29th January 1999. A second followed in May 1999 in Watford. Both services started offering a phone/fax ordering service and extended this to a CD-Rom-based service in July 1999. The two depots serve 3m households within the M25.
- For the last three months, ASDA has also been trialling a delivery service from its Farnborough store. ASDA will use the store-based model to roll out the service nationwide, building depots in key locations when the service is used by a sufficient number of customers.
- ASDA @t home offers a massive 6,000 products, including organics and a selection of the new ‘George Baby’ range, at the same price as its stores. Customers can now place their order via the net, phone or fax and groceries will be delivered the next day within a two hour time slot agreed with the customer. Next-day orders need to be placed by 5pm. There is no minimum spend and delivery is free on orders over £99 and just £3.50 on all other orders.
- ASDA @t home is the perfect alternative to store shopping for all kinds of customers – the elderly, pregnant women, families with children for whom the bulkiness of a weekly shop and the thought of guiding buggies around a store doesn’t appeal. Or indeed, anyone who doesn’t like the idea of going to the shops! Orders are carefully picked by ASDA’s personal shoppers with deliveries made by specially designed temperature-controlled vans.
Home Shopping Stores
- ASDA @t home will initially run its grocery delivery service from key stores in North/West Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Midlands, Glasgow and the South East. It aims to reach 60 per cent of the population of the UK by the end of 2002.
New Web Site
- ASDA’s new website (http://www.asda.com) has been designed to be quick and easy to use. Designed by Xpedior, it’s the first stage in a new multi-channel home-delivery grocery service, using technology from BroadVision, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Inceptor and Redeye. The site is hosted in the US by Wal-Mart’s state-of-the-art technology, ensuring the systems are always available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year;
- Customers will be able to hop between the web, telephone and from early 2001, digital TV, when the service goes live on Open TV. Customers can even ‘mix and match’ between different ways of accessing ASDA @t home during an order and amend it up to 5pm on the day before delivery Ð a service no other UK retailer is able to offer.
