Blog: Asda's Going Underground in latest click-and-collect move

Dean Best | 20 November 2013

Asda is offering travellers on London's Tube network the chance to pick up their shopping at stations, the latest attempt by UK grocers to offer multichannel services where they think customers will most want them.

Wal-Mart's UK arm has in recent months said it would look to make shopping with the company "more convenient" for shoppers and has invested in more click-and-collect points at its stores.

It has also set out plans to offer the service at park-and-ride schemes, train stations and universities, as reported on these pages in June.

Today (20 November), Asda announced it would install collection points in the car parks of six suburban London Underground stations - East Finchley, Epping, Harrow and Wealdstone, High Barnet, Highgate and Stanmore.

Last week, Asda said it wanted to increase its footprint in London and the South East. It set a target of increasing the "physical access" to Asda from 53% now to 70% by 2018. Click-and-collect, it insisted, was "central" to hitting that target.

"Customers in the South East tell us that they want the prices and quality provided by Asda value but they can't access it easily. This tie-up with [Tube operator] TfL solves that," Asda retail director Mark Ibbotson said.

Such initiatives may strike consumers some as a bit off-the-wall but they are sure to attract attention - enough, Asda hopes, to encourage repeat purchase.