Asda apes Amazon's locker collection system

Monday, November 19, 2012 - 14:01 by Graham Miller

Supermarket chain, Asda, has revealed a new way to allow its customers to enjoy shopping online, with the option to collect from a local store.

Rather than requiring that those who order their groceries for collection turn up during the opening hours of the shop in question, Asda is installing lockers that can be accessed at any time, day or night, to help busy consumers arrive at a point that is convenient to them.

This is similar to an approach being trialled by Amazon, which will deliver items to lockers within certain shopping malls, so that people can collect them on their lunch break or after work, rather than having to wait around for the delivery to arrive at home.

Asda is only running a small scale trial of the scheme at the moment, but if it is a success, it could be rolled out across the UK.

When a customer places an order online and specifies that they want to collect it at a time outside of the store's opening hours, they will be provided with a code. This code can be entered into one of the lockers, each of which has sections within it, to contain any chilled and frozen items, so that they do not spoil if the shopping ends up sitting there for several hours.

Supermarkets like Asda have been keen to adopt the 'click and collect' approach to e-commerce, because it actually gets people out of the house and down to their nearest bricks and mortar outlet.

Asda will still be proceeding with its implementation of a more common click and collect scheme over the coming weeks and the Daily Mail reports that it plans to make the platform available to shoppers at up to 100 of its stores before Christmas.