Shopping giant Asda’s first drive-through click-and-collect service in Britain will open in York in April, its boss has revealed.
Andy Clarke, chief executive at Asda, told an industry conference on March 13 that click-and-collect had been a big success.
“The growth has gone from nowhere to five per cent of our online business in a year. Huge growth,” he told Retail Week Live.
“It’s not just about small top-ups, it’s weekly shops. We now have collection points in 5,000 locations, think about that, we are only 500 stores. It’s true convenience,” Clarke added. He then revealed that Asda, Britain’s second-largest retailer, will open a drive-through click-and-collect service in York this year. “It’s about convenient shopping,” he said, according to just-food.com.
A spokesman for Asda revealed how the service will work. “Customers drive up to the click and collect kiosk at the store and scan in their delivery information from their mobile or delivery note. A colleague will then bring the delivery to the car.
“This takes about five minutes and is free, saving money and time. Customers still have the option of collecting their shopping in store. The service applies to grocery, George clothing and general merchandise and will launch in our York store in April.”
This follows a successful trial of the click & collect grocery drive thru model at six stores. UK grocery analysts estimate the value of the online food and grocery market will be worth £11.7bn by 2017, almost double its current level.
“The pace of mobile is upon us,” Clarke said. “For a businessman, if you’re not in mobile, you’re missing a huge opportunity.” Twenty per cent of Asda’s online orders are coming through mobile devices. “We wouldn’t have said that 12 months ago.”