Asda launches ‘ToYou’ click and collect service

Supermarket giant Asda has launched what it is calling a “game changing” parcel service, which allows customers to collect and return orders placed with third party retailers at any one of Asda’s 614 stores across the UK.

Online fashion brand Missguided is the first retail partner to sign up the new service, which is looking to tap into the 1.5 billion parcels that are delivered across the UK every year. The supermarket predicts that the service could provide it with up to 40 million extra visits per year by 2019.

Ian Stansfield, vice president Asda Logistics Services and Supply Chain said: “Demand for online shopping is ever increasing, with it grows the appetite from online retailers to have physical footprints their customers can access. Not only are we providing online retailers with a presence on the high street we’re also bridging a gap for customers who want to collect or return their online orders while carrying out their weekly shop.”

Stansfield added: “This is an industry first: complete, real-time, individual parcel tracking – whether collect or return, every step of a parcels journey is tracked and visible to our clients and customers. This truly is game changing.”

Asda launches click and collect service for third party retailers

As well as the service being for third parties it will also allow Asda to improve its George.com offering. Since August the retailer has rolled out to every store an enhanced ‘non-food’ click and collect service for George.com, which has reduced customer wait times for collection by over 60 percent and means customers can place orders up to 9pm for next day collection.

Stephen Langford, senior director, George e-commerce said: “George serves more customers online than most fashion retailers so for us this move was a bit of a no brainer, a slicker service, with more in depth data, which allows us to know what the optimum times of day we need to have colleagues ready to serve our customers.

“We can now see that customers ordering for the following day are collecting parcels between 5-7pm but if they miss their day one delivery slot, they’re coming to collect parcels between 8-10am the following day – this insight has helped us reduce waiting times by over 60 percent. This is data not only helping improve george.com, but we’re also able to provide it to our clients.”

Asda has stated the partnership with Missguided is the first of many, with new retailers to be announced in the coming weeks.

Images: Asda